Correctional Travelers
by LunaEtSidera
Summary: The gods sent four people into different times to correct past errors to balance the chaotic present. Only, it was against their will. (Thanks, Isis) Present time, the Seven and the Golden Trio hire Katelle Sparrow, the only half-human child of Kronos, to send them back in time to help out. Mystery, lies and a lot of confusion later, and there's their new life. Thanks a lot, chaos.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**All Things Young and Twins**

Harry had been sure things couldn't get any weirder than the last year. Demigods, gods, goddess, and ancient Greek and Egyptian monsters attacking one's school could really put a damper in their summer plans. He had hoped he would meet Percy Jackson and Company again, for now he had more pressing things to worry about. Like how to kill Voldemort without getting turned into a Harry Disaster. It seemed the smell of the demigods had stuck around Hogwarts and Grimmauld Place as well, because they were having an influx of snake-skinned and triple-headed people moving into the area.

What was life without a little adventure? Seriously though, things were getting annoying.

First the Headmaster had shown up in the middle of the night with the girl, who was so hyper she never stopped moving for more than a few minutes and had a snide attitude that gave Snape's sarcasm a run for his galleons. Then Dumbledore had the nerve to say some crazy lady had shown up and shown him a vision of the future, in which the Headmaster was dead, Sirius was dead, Remus Lupin was dead, and a plethora of other cool people were dead. Not to mention, the entire world was dead and it had been turned into a barren wasteland with monsters crawling on every square inch.

Wonderful. Why wasn't Harry surprised?

So what did Dumbledore do about it? He called an emergency meeting to discuss new approaches to the war. How there were going now wasn't going to work, so they needed to shake things up a bit. Not his words exactly (the girl's, actually. She was American of all things!) but that was the gist. _Awesome_! Harry had thought. Finally the old Professor was giving up on his ways of beating around the bush. Then the words 'time travel' had come out of Dumbledore's mouth, and then Harry's thoughts had quickly gone to _schist__! _

At least he wasn't the only one who thought Dumbledore was just a little insane. McGonagall and Sirius shared his sentiment, as much as they respected and cared for the old man. The Transfiguration teacher stood by the door, watching Dumbledore with unmasked shock. To see his stern, iron willed Professor watching the Headmaster with a wide, gaping mouth was somewhat disconcerting.

So maybe his cynical mood was helped a bit from the girl. The girl, who had yet to introduce herself. So far all she'd said was 'cat'. That couldn't have been her name? Who named their kid 'cat? Unless they really, really liked cats . . . He cast critical green eyes on her. He had never seen anyone dress like her before.

She had short, shaggy, heavily streaked blonde hair. Her large blue-gray-green eyes held a predatory glint in them that made Harry want to yell "take cover!" whenever she walked near someone. Her skin was pale and she had deep bags under her eyes that told of many sleepless nights. She wasn't much shorter than Harry, but he was short, so that made her short as well. Besides her rather sallow facial expression, it was her get-up that was weird.

She wore a black leather jacket, a tank-top, and a loaded gun holster on each side. Her jeans were ripped, from what looked suspiciously like claw marks, and black, with daggers strapped to her thighs. He could just see the glint of a knife hilt sticking out of the top of her thick leather combat boots. She didn't specify _what_ she had on her, but them threateningly there was over a dozen weapons on her person. Not including the sword strapped to her back.

The girl was a walking, talking weapon arsenal. Harry knew where to go if he needed a dagger. Or a hand gun, because she had at least five of those, and treated them like they were her 'precious'.

There was a tattoo on the top of her hand, which went up into her jacket sleeve. It was a runic symbol of some kind, but Harry didn't know what it was. Neither did Hermione, who had asked the girl about it several times. It was an eye, with a tear falling from the corner. Lines like wind currents wrapped around the eye and went up into her jacket.

". . . you think, Harry?" Dumbledore's voice broke through Harry's thoughts.

"Uh, what, professor?" He asked, feeling his neck burn.

Three of the other seven kids snickered. The seven heroes, being Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Piper, Jason, Frank and Hazel were joining them with Nico. Harry remembered them from the year before when they had helped him fight off Voldemort during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. They had also gone to Hogwarts to get to know the wizards and fight off Setne and their enemy, Apophis. It had turned into a full force battle in place called Deos-Natale, or the Birthplace of the Gods.

They had volunteered to help with this mission, even though they were leaving behind everyone. It was a huge sacrifice, but they agreed that the fate of the world was a bigger price to pay. The lives of every human being in the world rested on their shoulders, and they weren't about the let that ball drop. The whole seven had drawn back together again to help Harry and the other fight their enemy in a different way.

The other two kids who hadn't gone to Hogwarts, Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque, had introduced themselves earlier as the son of Mars and daughter of Pluto. Harry didn't know them farther than the small talk they had engaged in when they first walked in the room, but seemed like pretty nice people. They stuck by each others sides, so Harry thought they were a couple or something.

Dumbledore smiled, and waved his wand around the room.

_Silencing wards,_ Hermione mouthed at Harry. Good thing he had a genius on hand, because he hadn't had a clue what Dumbledore was doing. The Headmaster stopped and stowed away his wand.

"I think there are a few things that we need to discuss. I assure you – _all of you_," he stressed, "that everyone in this room is completely trustworthy. Yes, Mr. Weasley," Dumbledore smiled, interrupting Ron's question, "even Mr. Malfoy, as rude as he might have been in the past. I think it's time for the real explanations. Miss Chase. Do you mind?"

Annabeth nodded, stepping forward. She clasped her hands in front of her, like a professor about to give a lecture. Hermione sensed this, and leaned forward to listen intently. Harry was sure if she had parchment and a quill she'd take notes.

"I'm sure you've heard of the ancient Greek myths?" Annabeth asked.

Hermione nodded, but McGonagall shook her head. Harry was surprised that McGonagall had never heard of the Greek myths before, but he was even more surprised that Draco was nodding his head with Harry, Hermione and Ron.

Draco Malfoy, pureblood supreme, learned about muggle mythology? Why not? Pretty soon he'd be breaking out of the hippie bandanas and singing peace and love and sticking flowers in Weapon Girl's guns.

Annabeth sighed. "Okay. Well, the Greeks were an ancient muggle civilization that lived in, obviously, Greece. They had legends and stories about gods and monsters. In these legends, the gods would often come down and become . . . _involved_ with the mortals."

"That's for sure," Draco muttered.

"Shut up, ferret," Jason said, but his twitching lips betrayed his humor.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "_Anyways,_ the result of that was -"

"Little demigod kiddies running around and fighting monsters for the gods 'cause they're too lazy to do anything themselves." Leo grinned, throwing a pinwheel in the air, which somehow stayed aloft.

Harry figured it was something to do with Leo being a son of Hephaestus.

A lop-sided grin lit up Percy's face. "That's about sums it up."

Annabeth sighed. "In case you're wondering why I even bring this up – who am I kidding, of course that's what you're thinking – the legends are real."

There was a collective silence, McGonagall and Sirius stared at her in shock. Sirius finally coughed, diffusing the silence. "Just so you know, you missed the appropriate time to shout: _not!"_

Weapon Girl, who had yet to introduce herself, _still,_ groaned loudly. "Oh would you quit beating around the bush? The gods are real, the monsters are real, they mess around with mortals and have kids. These kids are demigods. Over half of the people in this room are demigods."

McGonagall and Hermione frowned at the same time. Hermione opened her mouth, and Harry mentally prepared himself for a long discussion. "There are sixteen people in this room. Eight of them are demigods, and eight are us wizards. That would mean that one or more of _us_ are demigods. That's if anything you're saying is true, of course."

Annabeth's gray eyes bored into Hermione, and Harry half expected the smartest witch of the century to go up in flames. However, it wasn't Annabeth who said the scathing remark. Malfoy pushed himself from his leaning post and joined the new kids on their side of the room. His eyes were narrowed, and standing next to Annabeth there was a certain . . . similarity, in their gray eyes. They had the same stormy intensity.

For a second, Harry thought . . . but, no. That was ridiculous.

"Granger," Malfoy said in a patronizing tone, "that's because over half of the people in this room are children of the gods. Dumbledore is the son of Hecate, goddess of magic. Sirius never knew, but he's the son of Hermes. And me -" he smiled, a real smile, not a smirk, "I'm the son of Athena, goddess of wisdom and battle strategy."

Hermione snorted. "Tell that to your marks."

A shadow passed across Malfoy's face. He snarled, "Do. Not. Insult. My intelligence."

"I'm not insulting your intelligence," Hermione said. Harry sensed a big _but_ in there somewhere. He was right. "_But_ there is much intelligence _to_ insult."

Annabeth's mouth twitched with suppressed humor. "Hermione," she said calmly,"don't insult a child of Athena's intelligence, unless you want to die. And I'm the daughter of Athena, making me his sister. Don't insult my little brother."

Malfoy gagged. "What have I said about calling me your little brother?"

Percy, who had draped his arm around Annabeth's shoulders again, smirked sarcastically. "A thousand and one times, ferret. Funny thing, it never seems too bother her too much."

McGonagall looked like she was trying to swallow a hair ball. "If you're all children of the . . . gods," she seemed to force the word out as if it gave her physical pain, "who are you godly parents?"

Percy jumped forward, mock saluting. "Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, god of sea. And here's a demonstration to prove we're right." He opened his hand, and water came flying from the door. There was a muffled shout from the person who had lost their water.

The water floated in a steady stream to Percy's outstretched hand. He closed his hand into a fist, and the water circled around it like rings on a planet. "Neptune has rings, doesn't it?" He asked Annabeth curiously.

She smiled and shook her head. "Yes, Seaweed Brain."

Leo waved his hand, which burst into flames.

Professor McGonagall began to look a little faint. Dumbledore smiled gently. "I think, for the sakes of the professors, you should tell them your parentage."

An impish grin completed the elvish look on Leo's face. "I'm the son of Hephaestus, god of blacksmiths and fire. No, not all children of Hephaestus have this power. It's just a sign from above of how incredibly awesome I really am."

Piper rolled her eyes, as if she was used to Leo's antics. "I'm the daughter of Aphrodite, goddess of love. And no, I am not a brainless bimbo."

"Lighten up, beauty queen," Leo said. "Not all of us have super-awesome face-reading power that help us know what the other is thinking. We're just lowly mortals. Grant us mercy!"

The eyes of the room turned to Nico, who glowered darkly. "Son of Hades, god of death and lord of the Underworld."

Frank closed his eyes with concentration, and then he shape-shifted into a huge grizzly bear, which sent _everyone_ reeling back. He changed back and smiled, "Frank Zhang, son of Mars, war god."

Hazel introduced herself as, "Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, god of the underworld and riches. Yeah, I know. Roman aspect. Try not to think about it too much."

Jason shook his head with a small laugh. "Guess that leaves me. I'm the son of Jupiter, lord of the sky and king of the gods."

McGonagall opened her mouth, but Jason cut her off. "Don't ask. I'm the son of Roman aspect of Zeus. It's a headache and a half, I know."

She closed her mouth, looking somewhat miffed. Finally Harry couldn't take it anymore. "Who are you?" He blurted, glaring at Weapon Girl in the corner. She hadn't moved an inch, and just stood there, watching diligently.

Percy looked at her, and frowned. "Oh, her name is -"

"Katelle Sparrow," she snapped in a clipped Irish accent. "Daughter of an evil Titan."

Harry felt immensely confused, but Hermione didn't. She looked apprehensive. "Is your dad, by any chance . . . Kronos?"

"Yeah." Katelle said in the same clipped tone. "Got a problem?"

"No, not at all." Hermione said quickly. She threw Harry a glance. _We'll talk about this later._

Dumbledore took the silence as a chance to talk again. "Miss Sparrow here is our key to sending you into the past. You see, Kronos was the Titan of time. With the help of a few spells, a particularly powerful time-turner, and Miss Sparrow, we'll have you sent back in time fifty years."

Shouts of outrage echoed around the room.

"You shouldn't meddle with time! Bad things happen!" Hermione.

"You old loon!" Malfoy.

"Sounds fun!" Sirius.

Dumbledore raised his hands, and everyone fell quiet again. "We haven't got much choice, I'm afraid. The future is a grim one, at best. Many good people will die, who shouldn't have to die."

Katelle shrugged her shoulders. She had pulled an apple out of her the pack – which looked like termites holding hands – and started to slice bite-sized chunks of it with a silver knife. "I'm willing. I've looked at the power of this spell, it will completely drain me. I'll have very little, if any, control over time. My limited control over fire might stay, and light, but besides for that I'll be rid of a large curse."

"Since when was control over time a curse?" Sirius grumbled.

"And how would we get back?" Hermione put in."

"It's not the power that's a curse, it's the message behind it; the legacy of who had it before me. I don't want that legacy." Katelle explained. "And we'll have to find our way back the hard way. You guys were never promised this would be easy."

Harry scowled. "What is the plan? The exactly, whole plan. We're going back in time. Great! I'll do it to destroy Voldemort. But what do we do once we're there? "Find our way back"? What does that mean?"

Dumbledore sighed heavily, looking older than ever. "I cannot allow you to do this on your own, Harry. I'm afraid this mission is of absolute importance and is necessary to the livelihoods of many hundred people. I will be accompanying you into the past, and joining you at Hogwarts."

Dumbledore, join them?

Harry was surprised, to say the least. Dumbledore had never physically helped in a quest. He would leave cryptic advice, and messages for him to decode, but never actually get his hands dirty. Now he would be going back in time with them. He supposed it made sense, although there was only one thing, one little – humongous – flaw in the plan that sent stabs of fear into Harry's gut.

"Professor," he said slowly. "Last time we traveled back in time, we changed nothing. During third year, all we did was complete what happened originally and answer questions."

"I can answer that question," Annabeth said. "You see, from what I've heard, you guys weren't outright trying to change time. You weren't trying to be seen, or do anything large. When you change time, it has to be big. You have to dive straight in a really mess things up. It's not like the world's going to blow up because of it. The time line with straighten out, how you made it."

The only people in the room who looked excited were Sirius, Leo and _Malfoy_, to Harry's surprise. He supposed it was the Slytherin ambitiousness that was getting to him. Even if it was ambition to completely change the course of history. Sirius clapped his hands, making few people jump. "So, when are we leaving?"

Dumbledore smiled serenely at Harry's godfather's enthusiasm. "As soon as Miss Sparrow is ready, and Professor Snape brings the de-aging potions."

The smile was whipped off of the three trouble-maker's faces. "De-aging?" They cried in unison.

Annabeth smirked at Percy's shocked expression. "Yup. I get to be taller than you again, Percy."

"Don't remind me," he mumbled.

"Who cares about height!" Sirius exclaimed, silvery excitement in his voice. "We're going to see an eleven year old Albus Dumbledore!"

"Don't forget Severus," Dumbledore said.

"What?"

"That's right," a voice drawled from the door, "although knowing your level of intelligence the Headmaster could have told you five times and you would have forgotten."

Professor Snape walked in with a flourish of his robes and sharp nod at Nico, who waved half-heartedly. "Hey Sev."

Harry gave a start of surprise. Why was Nico talking to Snape like he was close to him or something? Snape sneered, "for you of low intelligence, I am a legacy of Hades as well, making Nico my half brother."

_You poor thing,_ everyone in the room thought at the same time, with the exception of Malfoy and Dumbledore.

"You're related to Snivellous?" Sirius asked flatly. "You poor thing."

Well, Sirius said it out loud.

"Bloody Gryffindor," Snape sneered.

Nico smirked, and the ring on his finger suddenly grew into a long, black sword. The shadows in the room darkened, bending and twisting as if they were reaching out for the blade and the son of Hades. Nico held the sword up, his smirk widening. "Stygian Iron. Forged from the River Styx. You don't want to be cut by this sword."

Katelle rolled her eyes, making herself known again. "Let's just go, okay? The longer we wait, the harder it will get for me to control it. We need to go back roughly fifty eight years, to 1938. That was Voldeshort's first year, right?"

Dumbledore nodded gravely. "Because of how his birthday fell, he had to wait nearly an extra year to attend Hogwarts."

"Like me," Hermione and Katelle said at the same time.

Katelle shrugged, and smiled for the first time. "I was born January seventh."

The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes seemed to die a little at that. "You might find Tom . . . fascinated with that number."

Katelle shrugged. "Whatever. I wouldn't care he wanted to dress up like an Aztec and do a dance number. Who is in? If you aren't willing to go back fifty-some years, raise your hand."

No one raised their hand. Katelle went on. "Well, McGonagall can't come. Professor, you were in your second year when Riddle started his first, so you'll be there. I'm sure it would raise a few thousand eyebrows to see her twin there. Professor Snape, you're clear to go. There's no Snivellouses back in 1938."

Sirius smirked triumphantly. "And we can all become Animagi once we arrive at Hogwarts so we can keep an eye on Riddleikens."

Dumbledore took his wand from his sleeve again. "Severus, if you would hand out the potions?"

Professor Snape set to giving everyone their potions, nearly throwing the brackish looking liquid-filled vial at Sirius when he passed him. He sneered at Harry, but muttered, "I'm doing this for Lily," and gave it to him. There was one left in his hand after he was done, and Harry realized Snape actually planned on coming with them. Harry wondered what Snape looked like as a ten year old. That made things more interesting.

"Eleven year old Albus," Sirius cackled as he held up his dark brown colored potion.

"Bottoms up!" Leo called, and tipped his potion into his mouth. He made a face and gagged, doubling over and pressing his hands into his stomach. "Oooh, not cool. Tabasco sauce and motor oil. Where's Festus when you need him?"

Percy followed, along with Dumbledore, Jason, Piper, Annabeth, Nico, Sirius, Snape, Hermione, Ron, Harry, and last Malfoy. Clearly the ferret was waiting to make sure no one died, and then he would drink the potion.

Systematically, everyone doubled over as if the air had been punched from their stomachs. Harry groaned, feeling his body ache painfully. His bones made snapping and popping noises and he shrunk. His clothes became as baggy as Dudley's had when he was eleven years old, before he discovered he was a wizard. His hands became smaller and a little pudgier, and his face was smoother and youthful.

He looked around the room and laughed.

Percy was as scrawny as Harry, which made him wonder if he was malnourished as a child, and his over-sized orange T-shirt made him look even smaller. Annabeth was cute, with her blonde hair even curlier and almost as bushy as Hermione's, coupled with huge stormy gray eyes. Leo looked more like one of Father Christmas's workshop elves rather than a Lord of the Rings elf. Jason was still muscular, and his hair was shorter cropped. His eyes looked a little more guarded, as if being eleven had brought back memories.

Nico groaned and covered his face. His dark Italian olive complexion had come back, and his was healthier looking, hanging in slightly shorter curls. The shadows thickened in front of him, and a deck of cards and several metal figurines appeared in front of him. Nico covered his face again and moaned, "dad, really? Mythomagic?" His voice was higher pitched, and softer.

Percy grinned. "You're never too old for games."

Then Harry saw Snape and he laughed again. The Potions Master was skinny little kid with long hair black hair hanging in his face, maybe a little less greasy, and large black eyes. His nose wasn't quite so big, and he wasn't nearly as tall as he was before. Next to him, Sirius wore a grin that Harry was sure Snape hated. Sirius's face had lost the hollowness from Azkaban, and seemed to glow with cheerful mischief.

"All hail," Sirius said with mock graveness, "the new Marauder's era."

McGonagall's eyes widened in horror. "My younger self is going to be going to school with you!"

Sirius turned his evil smile from Snape to McGonagall. "Don't worry, Minerva, dear. I'll make sure to seduce your younger, more impressionable self."

"Sirius Black, don't you dare!" McGonagall shouted, pulling her wand.

Sirius yelped, covering his face behind his hands and peeking through his fingers. "You would hurt a helpless, innocent child would you, Professor?"

"Oh, would we get this over with?" Snapped a furious Irish accent from the corner.

That was it. The final straw. Harry exploded into laughter, doubling over as tears streamed down his face. Katelle's tough-girl act would be futile. She was adorable. Her large blue-green-gray eyes were even larger, she had a round, angelically innocent face, with long straight locks of golden blonde hair. Her skin was pale, she had a small frame with high and girlish voice. She was the picture of innocence.

She glowered darkly at Harry, or at least tried to. It made it look like she was pouting. Sirius joined Harry's laughter, although Harry wondered if his godfather even knew what he was laughing at. He asked him.

"Nope," Sirius laughed. "But laughing is fun!"

Katelle pouted. She did it well. "He's laughing at me," she whined.

Leo looked at her, and his eyes shone with poorly concealed amusement. "Holy mother! That's how the most terrifying girl in the world looked like at eleven?"

Piper, who looked like how Harry had imagined Pocahontas, smiled. "Be nice, Repair Boy."

Katelle ignored them, and glared – or tried to – at the smiling Headmaster. "What next?"

"Names and family," Dumbledore said with a smile.

Harry blinked in shock at the child Headmaster. He had shoulder-length wavy dark auburn hair, an open, cheerful face with ever twinkling eyes. His eyes seemed brighter and clearer than before, and like he was permanently laughing inside. He was about the same height as Harry, which surprised him, was as slim as Harry. His long robes dwarfed him humorously, pooling on the floor at his feet like a silvery-blue puddle.

"I have decided that Harry, Severus and I shall be brothers in this new – or shall I say old? - time." Dumbledore went on. "Harry may still be Harry, and I will be Albus, and Severus will be Severus, but we will have the last name 'Evans'. Any objections?"

"A thousand and one, Headmaster," came Snape's new, high-pitched innocent sounding voice.

"None, sir!" Harry piped in. _I get to be Dumbledore's brother?_ He was cheering inside. "But sir, we look nothing alike!"

Dumbledore pulled several more potions from various pockets. "Never underestimate an old man, Harry. Hermione, Piper, how would you two like to become sisters?"

The two girls gaped, but shrugged.

"I am doing this so it doesn't look like there are over double the usual children going to Hogwarts. There will simply be several twins and a set of triplets." Dumbledore explained.

He gave Hermione and Piper potions, which they drank. They didn't change much, but Hermione's skin and hair became a little darker, her eyes looked like a mix of green, blue and brown – like Piper's – and her hair wasn't as bushy. Piper looked no different, although they shared similar facial features. They could pass easily as twins. They decided to keep Piper's last name McLean, because Piper Granger had too many -ers in it.

Annabeth and Draco already looked enough alike because of their godly mother. Draco, albeit reluctantly, became Draco Chase, the half-blood. Nico and Leo refused to let go of their last names, so they became adopted brothers instead of taking a potion.

Sirius had mocked-mope about having no brother or sister, so Jason became his twin. Sirius benefited the most, his hair becoming more uniform in waves, and his face turned more Roman-like. Jason barely changed, but his hair grew a few inches and became wavy.

Dumbledore's eyes darkened into a more ocean blue, rather than a horizon blue, and his hair turned deepened a shade, so it was almost blood red. Harry's hair turned a bit redder, and but his eyes and skin stayed the same. Snape's hair – thank Merlin – was no longer greasy, and became a much lighter shade of blackish-red. His eyes turned into a deep emerald, and grew larger. Most of all, his nose was no longer overly large and crooked.

"Well, Snivellous," Sirius grinned. "Looks like you might not have such a hard time with the ladies."

Younger age hadn't hampered Snape's ability to sneer. "We're going to the past to stop the Dark Lord, not party like children."

Leo coughed. "We are children."

"Amen." Sirius said.

"Wow," Piper and Hermione said together.

"Did you practice that?" Harry, Dumbledore – Albus – and Severus said in unison.

Dumbledore sighed. "Drawback of the potion, I suppose. It should, hopefully, wear off."

Harry leaned over and muttered to Hermione, who Ron suddenly couldn't stop looking at even though she was only eleven, "if I start wearing purple robes and giving out lemon drops, give me a good kick, yes?"

"Agreed," she whispered back with a giggle.

* * *

**A/N: **

**Chapter one! Of. A. Lot. More. **

**Sorry this is pretty much a whole chapter of nothing but face-changing and joking around. There's a ton of characters, I know, but that will become important later on, so don't get discouraged if it seems like some of them are being ignored. **

**If you've just stumbled across this for the first time, then go read the first story! It's called The Rise of Magic. A pretty easy, cliche title to spot on my profile page. Just ignore the blather about stories I'll probably never get around to doing. Except for the Fablehaven one maybe. **

**In case there are any people out there who have been SO desperate for scy-fy that they recognize some of the further plot as if goes along, this was inspired by Primeval, BBC series that I love. Yes, I was that desperate for a dinosaur time-traveling show. Does Dr. Who have any dinosaurs in it? Because if it does, I am addicted. **

**I'll post the next chapter in three-to-fourish days, so until then!**

**DISCLAIMER (btw, I am not posting this in every. single. chapter. I'll forget.): I do not own, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or any of Primeval's stuff that any legal blood-sucking tick of a nuisance might recognize. So stuff it, lawyer. **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The Gateway to Tartarus

Dumbledore took a silver time-turner out of his robe pocket and gave it to Katelle. As soon as the cool metal touched her hand, it exploded into a plethora colors: gold, white, silver, circling around in rings of chains. She gave an involuntary yelp and tried to drop the time-turner, but it stuck to her hand. She shook her hand, but to no avail. The time-turner's wheels began to spin backwards, three days, four days, four weeks, four years, multiplying quickly.

"Conquered by a bloody tin can!" She snarled. When no one moved she motioned violently with her arms. "What're you waiting for? Christmas? Get in the circle!"

Snape reacted first, jumping in the ring of chains. Harry followed him, and that was catalyst for everyone else as well. They piled in the rings of rusty chains, which spun faster and faster as the years went back. Katelle had her eyes closed tightly with concentration as she clutched the time-turner to her chest. The world outside seemed to blur, as though there was a layer of water separating them from McGonagall.

_What were we thinking?_ Harry thought. _They were so many things that could go wrong!_

Katelle opened her eyes, but they weren't seeing. She had gone very still, her facial expression relaxed, still even. Her eyes glowed luminous gold, filling up the whites and pupils with the color of molten metal. The world outside the time-turner blurred out completely, and Katelle closed her eyes again, concentrating intensely as the numbers began to tick down.

The rings of chains slowed, and the numbers faded away. The world came back into focus, but they weren't standing where they should have been. They were in the middle of a street, in the middle of night. The chains still hung in the air, moving around Katelle in an almost predatory manner. Then they suddenly lunged at her, and she gave a cry of pain as they collided with her body. She crumpled, her small body hitting the street with a thud.

Annabeth and Piper moved to catch her, and lay her on the ground gently. Harry looked around the street, and saw something that made his heart clench with fear. There was a wide rusty iron gate, which was partially open. Inside was a dirty courtyard overgrown with weeds and covered in rubbish like old news papers and broken pieces of wood.

One the gate the words WOOL'S ORPHANAGE were welded into it.

Percy frowned. "Looks like we're at the entrance of Tartarus again."

"No kidding," Katelle said. She stood out in the 1930's with her punk rock clothes. She shrugged Piper and Hermione off. "And I don't need help."

They looked a little miffed, but said nothing. Dumbledore picked himself up off the ground, bounding easily to his feet. He beamed happily. "I'm afraid I had forgotten what it was like to be a youth."

Snape glowered as ever. Sirius couldn't stop grinning, and Harry was still reveling the fact he was in the 1930's and was Dumbledore's brother. His _triplet_ no less. The rest couldn't tear their eyes away from the forbidding orphanage before them. They were entranced with the gateway to where perhaps one of the most evil people they had ever known had grown up. Leo glared at the place openly.

Katelle was first to break the trance. "So. We're not going to fit in all that great here. We need to transfigure our clothes to the '30s stuff. Just don't touch my guns. Although I don't need weapons to kick your -"

"Language," Leo coughed.

"- purple butt." She snapped. "There. _Happy?_"

"Very." Leo said with a bright smile.

Dumbledore lifted his elder wand, and waved it. "I believe this will do."

Katelle's leather and jeans turned into a dirty plaid short sleeve dress that hung to her knees. There was a small belt about her waist that cinched the dress in. There were two gun holsters on her side, bulging under her thin cardigan. She glowered. "My leather jacket is needed."

"That not exact -"

"Leather jacket."

"Very well, child." Dumbledore waved his wand again, and her leather jacket morphed from the cardigan.

"Boots." She demanded.

"Miss Sparrow -"

"Oi! You're not our professor anymore, _Albus._ Now, boots!" She crossed her arms, glaring at Dumbledore fiercely. She did it quite well, despite having such innocent, youthful features.

Dumbledore sighed, but changed her simple flats into thick black combat boots. Then he turned to the other, and systematically transfigured their clothes into 1930's fashion. The boys found themselves suddenly wearing white long-sleeve dress-shirts, with black suspenders. The girls wore knee-length dresses with simple cardigans and a belt.

It sucked.

Sirius pouted, mourning his lost leather. Annabeth wrinkled her nose at the dress, and Piper forced Dumbledore to change her cardigan back into her snowboarding jacket. Harry was afraid for a few moments that Nico would send animated skeletons on the former Headmaster when his aviator's jacket disappeared, but Dumbledore saved himself by transfiguring Nico's jacket back to aviator's style. Dumbledore gave himself a bright blue shirt and yellow suspenders. Harry wanted to bury his head in the ground and deny that he knew Dumbledore.

By the time they reached the front door of the orphanage, they were so loud they had alerted the whole place they were there, and convinced Dumbledore to change the color of his clothes to white and silvery-blue. Harry discovered that Katelle had two more thigh holsters with hand guns (glock 40 and sig sauer), and an automatic sig in her plain-looking brown backpack that she had slung across her shoulder.

Harry wasn't sure how she was going to smuggle those into Hogwarts, but he was sure she'd find a way. While he was mulling this over, he found that everyone had suddenly started looking at him expectantly. They wanted _him_ to knock on the door. The door, which led to his mortal enemy. There was something wrong with that picture.

"Is he going to know?" Frank asked in a low voice.

"Does he know how to knock?" Katelle muttered.

"Go on, Harry!" Sirius encouraged. "One small knock for Harry, one big leap for Harrykind!"

"That makes no sense." Katelle said flatly.

"Which is why it's so brilliant," Sirius bragged.

"Why don't you do it, Katelle?" Harry asked. "You're the one decked out with five guns and gods know how much else."

She coughed. "Tommy boy knows magic. You're better at magic than me."

"I hate you." Harry muttered.

"I get that a lot," she said with a cheerful smile.

Harry tried not to stare too much. It was the first time she had smiled. Sirius, on the other hand, had no such qualms. "Whoa! Look away everyone – she can smile!"

"Oh for the love -" She cut herself off and slammed her fist against the door harshly, several times. She counted to three, and then knocked again, louder. Then she knocked, again. And then again. And again.

"Give them time!" Hermione snapped.

"I'm not patient!" Katelle shot back.

"Really?" Leo asked sarcastically, "we had no idea."

"Oh, shut up!" It was that moment, of course, the door opened.

They came face to face with boy with black hair combed neatly to the side, ocean blue eyes and a natural Mediterranean complexion, only paled from lack of sun. He had a glowering expression, which made up perfectly for how small he was. He wore a terrible looking gray tunic-like uniform.

He glared at them irritably. "What?"

"We're looking for a place to crash." Leo said.

Annabeth shifted uncomfortably and hissed, "1938, Leo!"

"Doth thy mother have a placeth for us weary wondering travelers to stayeth?" Leo asked with a dramatic flourish of an invisible hat and a really bad English accent.

That when Harry realized something rather important – the demigods, who made up the majority of their group, had American accents. That would seem very weird.

The boy rolled his eyes. "Should have known. More brats."

"'Ey!" Katelle snarled. "You're one to talk!"

The boy's stormy expression became a little angrier. "I honestly doubt that you're anywhere near my level of maturity and intelligence."

Katelle lifted her fist. "I could take you one five rounds hand-to-hand without break a sweat, shrimp."

Harry cleared his throat. "Uh – sorry. We're just looking for a place to stay. We have no where to go, we don't mean to cause a hassle."

The boy scowled, but opened the door wider. He glared openly at Katelle. "This place isn't welcoming to rebel _girls._"

"Oh, you start with that sexist s-"

"Language," Jason, Leo, and Nico muttered at the same time.

"Schist," she growled, "and I will drop kick you across the Atlantic Ocean so fast you won't know what happened."

"Judging by the fact you just told me what would happen," the boy said snidely, "I would understand quite well what happened."

She grinned fiendishly. "You'd be surprised with what I can do, _Tom Riddle._"

The boy's eyes widened, and he swallowed. Then his passive mask fell back into place. "How do you know my name?"

She made a face at him. "Isn't that what they always say?" She marched ahead of him, leaving the young dark lord staring after in shock.

Harry coughed. "Um. I'm Harry, Harry Evans. You're Tom Riddle, I guess?"

"Yes," Tom Riddle said sharply. "And I'd like to know how you know that."

They walked into the orphanage, standing the small opening corridor before the mess hall. Harry could smell food coming from the mess, but it didn't necessarily smell good. He scrambled to think of an excuse as to why Katelle would know Tom's name. Was it really necessary that she go around toting her knowledge of the future?

"Um. Well, she sort of really smart. And you kind of insulted her intelligence, which she doesn't take lightly." He stuttered. "She challenged you to a fist fight, which she does a lot."

_Smart move, Harry,_ he ridiculed himself. _As if Riddle couldn't hear Katelle brag about fighting him easily._

"You're obviously not related to her," Tom said with a smirk.

"No," Harry said blithely, before realizing it was an insult. "And I'm not stupid, you know. You need to be a little more subtle about your insults."

"Subtle insults are a waste of time," Katelle said as she stomped back in her combat boots. There was a harassed-looking older woman behind her with iron gray hair pulled back into messy bun.

Tom raised an eyebrow, which he did very well for an eleven year old child. Before he could get a word edge-wise, however, Katelle had plowed him over with a verbal freight train. "Like you, I can't stand you already. You're a cocky, insufferable git who believes he rules the world. You need a good lesson in humility."

Tom scowled. "Who needs a lesson in humility? Listen to yourself."

Katelle scoffed. "I already know my humility. I can't eat lasagna without insulting the maker."

"Sacrilegious!" Percy gasped. "You call yourself a New Yorker?"

Harry wanted to face palm.

"What can I say? New York just isn't the same in the 30's."

Now the older woman and Tom looked completely lost. The woman cleared her throat. "Well. If that is enough nonsense, I am Mrs. Cole. This is -"

"Tommy Widdle," Sirius in a falsetto. He stood directly behind Annabeth, so if one ignored the fact her mouth wasn't moving, she sounded like she had a voice problem. "We all –_ ow!_"

Sirius limped away, favoring his newly stomped-on foot.

Annabeth scowled at him, and turned back to Mrs. Cole. "I'm Annabeth Chase. We're looking for a place to stay. We were all adopted by our parents in the States, but they were," her voice broke and she blinked back tears in a stunning appearance of mourning, "killed in a ferry accident. We don't know where to go."

Mrs Cole pursed her lips. "I"m sorry for you loss, but we don't have much room –"

"That's okay!" Hermione piped up. "We're all used to sharing rooms. I can share rooms with my twin, Piper." She motioned to Piper, who flashed a smile and waved.

Mrs Cole looked doubtful. "We have four rooms open, including Tom's -"

Tom spluttered indignantly, but Mrs Cole held her hand sharply, cutting him off. "And if you can work something out, you can stay here until a relative is willing to take you."

Harry shared a look with Dumbledore and Snape. They silently agreed they wouldn't tell Mrs Cole until they settled down that they had no relatives. At least, not it this time. "That's fine." Harry said.

"Good." Mrs Cole said swiftly. "Riddle, will you take them to the open rooms?"

"Fine." The boy snapped. He motioned to the door to the mess hall. "This way." He took off, without waiting to see if they were following.

The mess hall was small, with only five round tables and a few scattered wooden chairs. There was a fireplace in the corner that spluttered weakly, which the other orphans huddled around for warmth. Harry tried to picture Tom Riddle sitting there with them, but it was impossible. Tom, from what he could already see, wouldn't ever put himself in that situation.

There was a stair case that led up to two stories of rooms, and then an attic. Some doors were open, showing children with ages ranging from three to seventeen. Tom passed by them and jogged up another flight of stairs to a lonely corridor with four doors. Three of them were closed, another was open. Harry judged that the open door was Tom's.

"You can just deal with having three rooms," Tom said darkly. "Because there is no way I'm sharing. Deal with it."

Katelle snorted. "Whatever. There's no way I'm bunking with any of them, and for some reason I don't trust you. You know what they say: keep your friends close, keep you enemies closer."

Was that Katelle's way of volunteering to share the room with the dark lord?

"There is no way -"

Piper rolled her yes. "Let's all be quiet and introduce ourselves."

Suddenly Harry felt like introducing himself quietly. "I'm Harry, these are my brothers, Albus and Severus Evans. We're triplets."

Piper gave a sigh of relief. "Good. I'm Piper, and this is my twin Hermione."

"Draco and Annabeth Chase."

"Nico di Angelo."

"Leo Valdez, bad-boy supreme!"

"Jason and Sirius Grace."

"Ron Wesley."

"Hazel Levesque"

"Frank Zhang."

"Katelle Sparrow."

Tom rolled his eyes. "Isn't a name like "Katelle" and "Sparrow" a little oxymoron?"

"Isn't a name like Joe Puzzle just a little retarded?" Katelle countered, walking into Tom's room and dumping her bag in a corner. When she returned, she said, "I don't need a bed. I've slept on the ground plenty of times before."

"It gets cold," Tom said doubtfully.

The dark lord carrying about someone being cold? That was a new one.

"I'll be fine," She said coolly, "trust me."

Leo snorted. "She'll probably build a campfire in your room."

"Good luck, mate," Sirius said with mock graveness. "She'll end up killing you somehow. Maybe with the sticks she used to cook marshmallows."

Tom glowered. "If anyone will be getting hurt, it's you people." He turned and slammed the door behind him.

"Cheery one, he is." Katelle muttered. She opened the door and slammed it behind her. They could easily hear her yell, "if you want to eat a bullet, I dare you to touch my stuff."

The next few weeks passed by without too much hassle.

Harry, Percy and the others slowly became accustomed to the year 1938. Percy, Leo, Jason, Nico, Annabeth and Piper had a hard time with their ADHD and ADD, and they found out quickly that Attention Deficit Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder and dyslexia hadn't been discovered in 1938. Therefor, Percy could no longer say he was ADHD and expect to get away with moving around a lot. He couldn't say he was dyslexic and be let off of his reading assignment. And _no_ a mental disorder was not an excuse to get out of primary school.

Life was tough.

Their next grand discovery was that Tom had a didactic memory – a photographic memory – to compensate for dyslexia. On top of that, it was very obvious he was ADHD by how easy it was for him to get distracted, and how he didn't stay still for longer than about point one seconds. If Percy hadn't been completely convinced by the picture of Tom Riddle Sr., and the common knowledge that Tom's mother was Merope Gaunt, he would have thought he was a demigod.

As it was, Percy had his doubts. Tom Riddle Sr. looked like any dark-haired, dark-eyed man, and Tom Riddle Jr. had blue-green eyes, not brown. It was possible . . . But no, Merope Gaunt, in all her insanity, wasn't so confused as to not be able to tell a god from a mortal.

Percy, Sirius and Jason sat around one of the small tables, listening to Katelle and Tom spar back and forth verbally. Sirius discussed with Jason Marauder's nicknames with so much seriousness one would have thought he was talking about wasted nuclear materials. Percy was sort of between both of the groups, refereeing for Katelle and Tom, and half-listening to Sirius's nicknames. So far he had heard Puddles, Sparky, Spark-Plug, Scaly-Wag (no. Just, no.) and about a thousand other even worse.

That's when the door of the mess hall opened, and Mrs Cole walked in, arguing with a boy of about eleven or twelve. The boy waved his hand at her, as if dismissing whatever she was saying. Mrs. Cole looked even more flustered than she had when Percy and his friends had showed up at her doorstep. She eventually just gave up and snapped something sternly at the boy, who replied swiftly before walking in Percy's direction.

Percy got a random image of the boy turning into a monster and tearing the place up, leaving them without somewhere to stay and a long explanation to a certain junior dark lord.

The boy had wavy auburn hair that several shades darker than Ron's, and light brown eyes, somewhat like the color of toffee. He was paler than Nico, and his face was curiously . . . blank. There was no emotion showing, no laughter lines, or even frown lines in that matter, no nothing. His face was creepily still.

Katelle looked up, and finally noticed the boy. "Allan! Took you long enough."

"Who's this?" Percy hissed under his breath.

"A friend," she replied. "Allan, sit down."

Allan sat down, still blank faced. Percy resisted the urge to wave his hand in front of the other boy's face. Was he a robot or something? Part Vulcan? Percy thought it was even stranger than the cold, impassive expression was familiar. He supposed he had seen it on many gods and goddesses, namely Hera, goddess of alien abductions and amnesia, Queen of the gods.

"It took you long enough," Katelle repeated.

"I came as soon as I could," Allan said in a strong Scottish accent that almost made up for his slight monotone.

"You are the weirdest people I have ever come across," Tom said, shaking his head.

"I agree," Percy muttered.

Sirius cast a critical look at Allan. He asked Percy in an undertone, "Maybe we can get Piper to brainwash him into acting like a normal human?"

Jason, overhearing, snorted. "Not if you want to take Katelle on in hand-to-hand combat."

The grim animagus sat back with a disgruntled frown.

"Not all of us feel the need to display how we feel for everyone to see," Allan said calmly, nearly making Sirius, Percy and Jason jump. "I keep to myself."

"Understatement," Tom muttered.

Katelle and Allan chatted back and forth, while Percy, Jason and Sirius took back to playing the game _Keeping Tom Around Everyone As Long As Possible._ The rules were talking Tom and attempting to get him to lower himself to the rest of the mortal children. Players got plus two points for a smirk, plus four for an honest smile (which was painfully rare), and plus ten for a real laugh (which never happened).

So far, Katelle was in the lead. Tom seemed to thrive off their rivalry, and actually enjoyed getting in verbal fights with her. Perhaps he was happy he had met someone who was as good at shooting out acid insults as he was. Over the past few weeks, Percy had noticed that the dark lord supreme had been losing his slyness a bit. It seemed Kat's time-bomb like temper was rubbing off on him. Suddenly he was as much as a ticking time-bomb as she was.

Katelle was trying to convince Tom to arm wrestle with her, but the dark-haired boy knew better than to try for public humiliation. Frank, Hazel, Piper, and Ron were the only ones actually spending their time in the mess eating. Percy didn't know where Annabeth and Hermione were, but more than likely it had something to do with architecture and studying. Why they would want to do torturous things, Percy had no idea.

"Oh, come on!" Katelle insisted. "Or at least let me show you some self-defense moves."

"No way." Tom said. "I'm not giving you a chance to kick me."

She snorted. "I don't need you to give me a chance to kick you. I could kick right now."

Tom rolled his eyes, glaring at her. "Right."

Jason laughed. "You never know when you might need some of that self-defense around her."

Tom huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "Like I said. All talk."

Percy winced. _T – minus three seconds until she kicks his _podex._ Two . . . One . . ._

_WHAM!_

Tom's chair suddenly collapsed, and he tumbled to the ground in an undignified heap. Katelle gloated above him. "Told you."

Tom's face turned red, and he jumped to his feet, throwing his fist at her face. Percy figured Tom gave up on the "treat a girl with respect thing" after she kicked his chair over from five feet away. Katelle danced nimbly out of his reach, laughing obnoxiously. Percy stood up, followed by Leo and Jason. They had huge grins splitting their faces.

Sirius appeared and yelled, "fight! Fight! Fight!"

Leo and Percy joined in, and Katelle rolled her eyes. "Real mature."

Tom's face was red, whether from fury or embarrassment, Percy couldn't tell. Then a look of concentration passed over his face. Kat seemed to realized what was happening, because she lost her teasing look and her eyes narrowed.

"Go on, Riddle." She said in a venomously soft tone. "Do your worse. Let's see who comes out of this one alive."

Tom started talking, but it wasn't in English. It came out a series of hissing and spits, which Percy somehow understood. "_I am much worse than you._"

Kat rolled her eyes, and gave a short laugh, diffusing the tension. She collapsed her staff and stuffed it back up her sleeve. "Snake talk? Real subtle, Tom."

Tom's eyes widened. He asked in a harsh whisper, "You can understand that?"

"It's one of our . . . talents." She explained. "You'd be surprised if you knew how many people were like you."

"How'd -"

"Tom?" Mrs Cole called. She walked in and saw them. "Oh. There's a gentleman who wants to talk to all of you."

Percy assumed 'all of them' meant even the demigods, so he stood up. He supposed this was Dumbledore from 1938 to talk to Tom Riddle about Hogwarts. He looked over at the younger/older Dumbledore, who nodded at him, confirming Percy's assumption. Hermione, Piper and Ron bounded over, and followed Percy and Harry out of the mess hall.

Katelle aimed one last glare at Tom before following them out of the mess hall into the entrance corridor of the orphanage.

Albus Dumbledore of 1938 sat on a bench waiting for them twirling his wand between his fingers. Percy was a little surprised that he would show his wand so openly, since over half the people in the orphanage were mortals, or as the wizards looked at it, muggles. His robes were typical Dumbledore, light spring green with moons and suns embroidered into the fabric.

Percy decided that calling him 'Dumbledore from 1938' was too much of mouthful, so he nicknamed him P. Dumble. He wasn't sure if their Dumbledore would approve, but judging from his get-up, he wouldn't mind in the least.

P. Dumble sat on a bench in the mud room, examining them. "I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here."

Tom rolled his eyes. "He's a doctor. Only doctors look like that."

"Real subtle," Katelle said for the second or third time that day. "You're losing your touch, Riddle."

P. Dumble cleared his throat. "I'm not a doctor, but I am a professor. I'm here to tell you about a school in Scotland for children like you."

Tom glowered at him. "You mean an asylum for mental cases."

"No," P. Dumble said genially. "A school for children special talents. You're a wizards, children. And witches. This school is for young wizards and witches to hone their magic and learn. It's called Hogwarts."

Tom blinked several seconds before shooting out, "prove it."

Percy remembered Dumbledore burning up Tom's wardrobe, which probably didn't endear the man to him. He hoped he didn't do something as drastic, turning one of them into a gerbil, or catfish -

A lone pebble on the floor suddenly wobbled, and then turned into a cup. It turned back into a pebble, leaving Tom gaping at the rock on the floor and the others trying to look shocked. P. Dumble gave Tom a pointed look. "That, Tom, is magic. I'm sure many strange, unexplainable things have happened to you. Right?"

"Like monster attacks?" Percy blurted. This was it. A test. He _had_ to know if Tom was a demigod or not.

"Well, I'm not sure -"

"There was a teacher who had horns once," Tom said quietly. "And a woman who had a crazy dog that turned into a monster. She called herself the mother of all monsters."

Percy shuddered. _Echidna._ And monster attacks. Tom had been attacked by monsters. He looked at Annabeth, who shrugged her shoulder and shook her head. She didn't know what to make of it. Wizards didn't get attacked by monsters. And that meant the twins, Tom's grandchildren – major headache there – were Greek legacies.

Harry glared at him, but Percy ignored it. He was inwardly cheering that one of his guesses finally turned out to be true.

"Animals like me," Tom went on, unaware of Percy's mental triumph. "Snakes find me. I can make people hurt, who are bad to me. I can talk to snakes. Is that normal?"

"Oh, quit with the melodramatics." Katelle said, exasperated. "We get it. Weird stuff has happened to me as well. Time stopping, monsters attacking, blue, pink and green hair. Actually the last one looked awesome."

P. Dumble looked confused, but smiled nonetheless. "I look forward to seeing you at Hogwarts, children. An owl with your invitation letters will be coming soon with a list of things for your first year. I will be your professor in transfiguration."

"Rad." Kat muttered.

"What're we, in the 80's?" Percy joked under his breath.

"You lose track after a while," Katelle whispered back.

P. Dumble stood up, stroking his short auburn beard. His green robes swished around his feet, and if they didn't know him, they'd think he was a little shaken in the head.

"I believe I am done here," P. Dumble said. "Again, I look forward to your first year Hogwarts!"

He left, but right before he walked out of the door, he cast an odd glance at Tom, Kat and Allan. Percy was definitely going to have to find out more about the Allan guy. There were several things about him and Katelle that just didn't add up.

* * *

**A/N: Chapter numero due, up. Forgive my horrible Italian. **

**I'm sorry if it seems that the story is going slow, and long-winded. The next two chapters might seem like that. I promise, it will pick up the pace. Not all of this is going to go with the book (like Dumbledore didn't meet Tom in his bedroom and so on). **

**I know, I skipped over a lot of time, and that's kind of lazy, but there was nothing to learn there. It would only take up space with boring conversations long-windedness. Just remember, this is not a Tom Riddle is redeemed story. This isn't about making Tom all fluffy and good and so on. There's a bazillion and one other stories about that, and this one has a plot that I'm sticking to that doesn't involve counseling Tom Riddle. So Tom might seem OOC sometimes, but the way I figure it, he's too busy worrying about not being killed by monsters or other evil creatures to think about turning into an evil dark lord. Have monsters jumping at you tends to do that to a person. **

**Plus there's Grindelwald we have to deal with! I'm sure he'll be thrown in somewhere. Or maybe not. I'm not totally sure yet. Review! I love to read your reviews. If there's anything that's bugging you, I'll try to answer as best as I can.**

* * *

**Breakout214: yeah, they're a little OOC. Confession time: I actually intended this story to be a separate plot, with nothing to do with the Rise of Magic. I tweaked some things, but it still wasn't perfect. Sorry about that. The only chapters that are like that are the first and second, so after this chapter I hope there isn't anymore OOCness.**

**Sarahnile14: That's one of those "all will be explained in due time" things. Remember, Kronos is Katelle's dad, and I really doubt he was the nicest parent in the world, so she had a rough upbringing. **

**ww1990ww: I've never watched any of the those shows, so I don't really know about it. It would be incredibly difficult to introduce anymore character (there's already thirteen or fourteen). I'm going off the hope that time can change, and that there's isn't a hundred other alternate dimensions out there. Or maybe there will be. That would certainly be a difficult plot hurtle! **

**Well, I hope you guys liked this chapter and all that jazz. Till next time! **

**Oh, and let's say hypothetically our favorite characters (cough, Percy, Jason and Harry, cough) go to a different era in time. What era would you guys like? It could be any time, from the Roman era, medieval, or the Cretaceous Period. Yeah, I'm a sci-fi nerd. **


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Nightmares in the Bookstore

Tom hated the wait until Hogwarts.

He tried not make it overly obvious, but he was very bored at the orphanage. He enjoyed Katelle's and Percy's company, and he even found Allan wasn't so bad. Sirius and Leo were the class clowns, and he secretly liked to hand around them as well. Although if anyone found out, they'd have a hurricane of fury to deal with. There was something definitely off about all of them, but for life of him, Tom could figure out what it was.

Allan took the reward for weirdness.

He had never once met a person who could run up a wall until Allan stumbled into the orphanage. Allan could literally run up walls, and then find and grab onto handholds that were so small, it shouldn't have been humanly possible. Tom had tested Allan over the past few weeks while waiting for the time to leave for Hogwarts. Allan had lightening reflexes. Again, it wasn't humanly possible to catch something that was thrown at him from behind, when he didn't know there was someone even standing there.

Not to mention, there was the little literally showing no emotion thing. Tom thought he had the blank, impassive face down pat, but Allan beat him hands-down.

Katelle was no exception in the mystery department. She wasn't as quick as Allan or as emotionless, in fact she was pretty much a walking, talking explosive, but she was strong. Tom figured Allan could run or jump his way out of any situation, and Katelle could overpower a man easily. The both of them paired together? It would take an otherworldly foe to challenge them.

Katelle kept a plain-looking brown bag with her at all times. It killed Tom to not know what was in it. He had immense curiosity about anything he didn't know, and having a mystery bag being toted around in front of him was the worst torture. That was why, when she finally forgot about it on the day they were to leave for Hogwarts, Tom jumped on the opportunity to snoop around through her stuff. He had endless questions, and he figured that the bag would answer some of them.

Tom closed and locked the door behind him. Her bag lay undefended on the floor in her corner, where she slept every night. He took a deep breath and turned the bag over, looking for the opening. It was a simple snap clasp, with a handle that looked like it was designed to yank the opening of the bag back quickly.

He quickly opened the bag. There was a pile of letters, maps, books, and a cold, hard metal device at the bottom. The bag was musty smelling, and lined with pockets. There was several daggers and bags of moss and plants. There was a specific book that drew his attention with her name on it. Journal?

He opened it, but instead saw drawings of plants, people, and places he didn't recognize. There were a few journal entries, but they made no sense whatsoever.

_'All the __doors __were__ blocked. They __were__ coming from the sky, __we had__ been overrun, and I ha__d__ no way of finding out where the breech __was__. __We were bound to fail from the beginning. Bloody ridiculous.__ Ten people are dead, and three more are injured. The blood is attracting the __Predators, that and our __heartbeats, __as if this can't get anymore unfair__.__ We only have so much – crap. They're here.'_

The last journal entry ended with a smear of dried blood, and a torn out page. The ink was smudge with what he was sure was tears. The whole book was covered in grass stains, dirt, and more dry blood. It was raggedy and on its last leg, yet she had recently written the part about the dead people. There were several markers on the top of the pages, signalizing important parts, all of which made no sense at all.

He pulled out the letters. They were all addressed from someone called 'Raptor', and were all in a language he didn't understand. It wasn't German, Russian, Latin, French, Italian, or any other language he had ever seen. The letters weren't derived from Latin, or even slightly related to any hieroglyph he'd come across. A few of the books were written in the same language, and the ones that weren't made no sense at all. He assumed they were a code of some sort.

He pawed through the maps. They were of a place that wasn't on Earth. There were elaborate schematics of fortresses, and several of the same place. There were no names, so he assumed Katelle had all of it committed to memory. He felt something prickle down his spine. Someone was coming. He started to scramble through her stuff faster, trying to memorize everything he saw.

Then he saw the pictures.

These weren't drawings. They were full-color pictures. And what was in them was terrifying. He swallowed dryly, looking at the lithe, wiry creature with black and gray scaly skin, a wide, gaping maw dripping with saliva, and beady black eyes. It's head were double domes, and it hunched over on long arms, leaning its weight on curled knuckles.

There was a blur in the background of the picture, faintly the form of the monster. It was stretched across the picture. Whatever it was, it must have moved fast.

He reached down into the pack again. His heart was pounding with a bit of fright. It must have been a fake picture. There was no way monsters like that existed in reality. He pulled out the metal device, and gasped. It was a gun, but no just any kind of gun. The barrel alone was at least sixteen inches long, and it had a curved part sticking out of it with lots of holes and parts that made no sense. He had never seen a gun like this. It was fully loaded, and there were several more magazine clips of ammunition in side pockets.

Another picture fluttered out, and his mouth dropped open again, for about the fiftieth time. He closed his eyes and put everything back. Well, now he knew what the monsters did to their victims, and it wasn't pretty. He shoved everything back in the pack, horrified by the fact he had just seen a person . . . in really bad shape. Why would she have such a picture? It kind of put a damper on their grudging relationship.

He got up and backed away from the pack of horrors. He fumbled with the doorknob frantically, and remembered he locked it. When he got the door open and stepped out into the hall, he tried to slow his breathing. _Focus on the day_, he told himself: they were going to Diagon Alley, and then they were going King's Cross Station, platform 9 and ¾.

They were going to buy things. Books.

Monsters.

They were going to get robes.

Monsters eating people.

They were getting wands.

More monsters -

"Shrimp?"

He yelped and whirled around, his heart rate spiking.

It was Katelle. Of course it was Katelle. Who else called him shrimp? She raised an eyebrow. "Someone's jumpy. Come on. Percy's making the Taxi driver wait for you."

"Um – yeah – coming." He spluttered. "Coming!"

He ran after her, trying to clear his mind. Allan was waiting by the door of the Taxi, and when he saw Tom a shadow passed over his face. Tom tried to ignore this and stuffed himself in the Taxi with Percy, Leo, Sirius, Jason and Annabeth. Allan jumped in after him, officially making the Taxi impossibly packed.

"I don't know what you saw," Allan muttered in Tom's ear, "but don't go looking through Katelle's stuff again."

He nodded shakily. How did Allan know about Tom's escapade? He didn't have time to think about it, because Katelle jumped into the Taxi and threw a few pounds at the driver. "King's Cross Station."

The cab driver stepped on it, racing away down the road to their destination. Tom swallowed and tried not to sound terrified when he said, "So, Katelle. You've never said much about where you came from."

"Parents died." She said. "Got adopted, and then those parents died. Came here. Not much else to say."

"How did your parents die?" Tom asked.

"How did yours?" She bit back.

"My mother died in childbirth," he said cautiously. He didn't like to tell anyone about that. It was like telling someone he was the reason he was an orphan. He made his mother die. "My father . . . I don't know."

Allan pursed his lips, the most emotion he had showed ever. "Well, we have something in common. My father upped and left. I'm pretty sure he got himself killed, though. I had a few brothers, but they're either missing or dead."

"Oh." Tom said.

Katelle groaned irritably. "What do you want to hear? That my mom and dad were torn apart by monsters? They died. End of story."

Chills went up and down his back. Torn apart by monsters? She said it like it was not the truth, but he had seen what was in that pack. The backpack which was slung across her shoulder. Tom shuddered and tried not to be obvious about leaning away from the backpack. Maybe her parents _had_ been torn apart by monsters.

"Who are you?" He finally blurted out. His panic level was raising, and terror passed over him like a hurricane. If he had paid closer attention, he would have noticed the cab driver's cup of water starting to rattle.

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked, frowning sincerely.

"_Wh__o__. Are. You_?" Tom hissed.

"_We're different,_" Katelle hissed back. "_Don't expect to understand, and don't ask anymore questions._"

Tom felt a surge of anger rise, and the air became charged. There was an explosion as the driver's cup exploded. Water sprayed everywhere, landing droplets on everyone except Percy . The cab driver stuttered out an apology, which Annabeth gracefully accepted. Tom stared at Percy's shirt. The water had landed there. He _knew_ it had. But there was nothing there.

"Later." Percy said. "We'll talk later."

When the cab stopped, Tom was thankful to climb out. There was a tall man with graying hair and dark eyes. He wore robes, so Tom guessed that was Professor Merryweather, their guide. Piper, Albus, Severus, Hermione, Draco, Nico and Ron had already arrived, having left earlier in another cab. Tom joined them, and the professor smiled.

"Ah, there's the rest of you. Off to Diagon Alley, then?" Merryweather asked.

"I guess?" Tom said. He hated how uncertain he sounded. He probably looked like any other normal sniveling kid.

"Oh, come on Snivellous," Sirius said. "It's not so bad."

Severus glared at Sirius darkly, and then back at the hat Sirius was offering. "I would rather hang upside down from a rafter like the bats you so often think I look like that wear that . . . _thing._"

Tom was glad for their bantering. It took his mind off his internal problems.

Professor Merryweather led them through London, through a nasty pub called the Leaky Cauldron, which Tom thought shouldn't be allowed to run, and to an empty wall. The bricks were covered with moss, but that didn't make Merryweather pause. He tapped his wand on the bricks in a certain pattern – which Tom memorized – and the bricks rumbled. They started to move up and down, and formed a doorway to another world.

It was bustling with people. There were wizards and witches in robes, shops lining the street, and merchants calling out the prices of their merchandise. There were several stores that were more popular than others, like the Quidditch store, Flourish &amp; Blotts, and Madam Malkin's. Tom guessed the latter of the two were being crowded because there were hundreds of children bustling around, about to leave for Hogwarts.

The colors were blinding. The windows shone with rainbow coloring, and revealed the oddest things Tom had ever seen. There were shining silver and gold cauldrons, and a shining broom on display in the Quidditch store that the children – and a few pathetic adults – drooled over. Owls flew over head, and there were a few cats and rats in the loose.

"What do you say we get our books first?" Tom asked in a daze.

"That sounds great!" Annabeth and Hermione said at the same time.

Piper laughed. "I thought you were supposed to be _my_ twin, Hermione."

Draco cleaned away invisible dirt from his nails and drawled, "book worms will be book worms."

"Oh, shut up, ferret." Hermione said.

They made their way to Flourish &amp; Blotts, bickering and bantering the whole way. Tom was overjoyed for the peace and quiet of the bookstore. Or at least he was, until the images came back. Who kept pictures of dismembered people in their backpack? Unless it meant something more to them. A remembrance? Revenge? Sick pleasure? He doubted the last one. Katelle might have been odd, but she was not a psychopath.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. When he opened them, he could see the monster, its jaw opened wide and slavering, pointed yellow teeth, its muscles straining to tear him apart joint by joint. He closed his eyes again and lay his head on the table he had sat by. He didn't even realize he had fallen asleep until he started to dream.

Or more like, he started to have a nightmare.

He stood in a barren wasteland. The ground was coarse sand, and there were metal objects sticking out of the sand, like he was standing on the ruins of city after a tornado leveled it, and then a sand storm whipped in and covered the leftovers. The sand crunched under his feet, and the amount of sharp metal sticking up made it impossible to walk around safely.

The sky was dusty, and the only light came from a dull brownish-gold sphere hidden behind unhealthy looking clouds. There were no birds, no animals, no nothing. It was silent. Deathly silent. There was nothing but rolling hills of sand and ruins, and empty skies. There was an air of despair that rang through it, as if the hopes of mankind had once rested on this place, and the heroes had failed.

Then, of in the distance, a low rumble started. Then a huge plume of dirt, dust and smoke shot up in the air in a crescent. It widened, moving closer and closer to Tom like a wild sand storm. The air turned poisonous, scratching at Tom's lungs even though he was just in a dream. He tried to run, but his feet felt like they were lead. The storm blew by him, sand being forced into his eyes, his ears, his nose. He coughed and choked, wheezing as his lungs suffered in the none-breathable atmosphere.

As quick as the storm came, it passed. The wind howled behind Tom, wreaking havoc. That's when Tom saw a slim silhouette. It was deathly thin, and sickly looking like the rest of the place, but it looked like a person. Something about it sent a warning bell off in his head, but he ignored it. There was a person, and he wanted to talk to this person.

"Hey!" He yelled. "Over here! Hey!"

The figure turned, becoming a little . . . less . . . human. It hunched over and rested on its curled knuckles, making popping and snarling noises that Tom could hear from even that far away. It raised its head, as if sniffing the air, scrambling down the dune, sending sand spraying into the air. Tom froze, his entire body turning to led and his heart pounding.

The monster looked straight at him, and let out a harsh cackling and popping snarls that scared Tom more than a monster's roar. Then started to lope over the dunes, its long limbs carrying it with speed that was like lightening. Before Tom even had time to turn and run, the monster was on him, its long sickle-like claws raking across his skin. He felt pain, but there was no injury.

He stumbled back and tripped over a protruding metal beam and fell back _through_ the ground. The nightmare turned watery and washed across his vision, reminding him that it was only a dream. When the feed cleared again, he was standing in a jungle. The woods were thick with vines, palms, and dark green underbrush mixed with florescent colors that made the rainforest so exotic and unique. The jungle was alive with sounds: birds chirping and tweeting, a few distant roars, and the sound of trees groaning and swaying in a breeze.

Light rain pattered down, dampening Tom's fleece overcoat. He looked around, his ocean blue eyes taking in everything. This was a nice improvement to the desert.

Then he heard voices.

"Be careful!" It sounded rather familiar.

"I _am_ being careful! You're the idiot who actually –"

"Would you shut up? You're going to attract every predator in a ten mile radius!" He definitely recognized the voice now. It was Katelle, but she sounded different. Her voice was a little deeper and slightly raspy, the sultry voice thing down-pat. She didn't sound that deep as he knew her. Why the sound of her voice mattered, he didn't know. He had just wasted about a minute focusing on their voices.

Two people slipped out of the jungle into the small opening quietly. It was Katelle and Allan, but they were . . . much older. They were about sixteen or seventeen, wearing strange rough jean trousers and black and green leather jackets that blended into the jungle perfectly. She had a gun like the one in her pack, only bigger, strapped across her stomach. She held it securely and she inspected the opening for threats with her finger on the trigger.

Tom was sort of glad they didn't see him.

Katelle's hair was much shorter and brightly colored, but Allan's was the same as it was when he walked into Wool's Orphanage. They had weapons decked out on every available space of their body, and had packs on their back. Then a third young man with pale hair and violet eyes stepped out of the forest. He was dressed similarly, only he didn't wear a pack. He looked around the clearing cautiously before joining Katelle and Allan.

"You think we lost them?" Katelle asked.

"I don't know," the pale haired guy said. "Predators are fast."

"And they hear amazingly well, I know." Katelle sighed, lifting her gun a little higher for them to see. "So this machine gun. It'll be enough to take them down? Because you know, Ace, I really don't want to go down a-blazing."

The pale haired guy grinned. "Designed it myself. She'll do a lot of damage to those –"

There was a panicked screech of a bird, which was cut off short. Katelle, 'Ace', and Allan froze, lifting their machine guns up at their eye-level and forming a circle.

"Not to say I didn't tell you so," Katelle hissed.

A monster just like the one from the desert leapt into the clearing, snarling and darting around from place to place ridiculously fast.

"But I told you so," Katelle finished.

The monster leapt down and she fired the gun. It wasn't as loud as Tom thought it should have been, muffled and quiet. The monster darted out of the way of her stream of bullets and attacked Allan. He smacked it with the end of the gun and fired. The monster again leapt out of the way with incredible speed. It changed its tactics next, jumping around from tree to tree, circling them from above.

Finally it bounded down, and only Allan's reflexes saved them from being torn to shreds by the monster's claws. He shoved Katelle and Ace out of the way, and fired the machine gun just in time to save himself as well. The monster fell, but he kept firing at it anyway. When he stopped, the monster was full of holes and bleed a nasty yellow-green color. Allan was breathing heavily, and Katelle was white-faced.

That's when something passed through Tom. He gasped as two of the monsters, which the trio called a Predator, slowly edging around them. They both targeted Ace, their slavering maws open wide and snarling quietly. It tensed, getting ready to uncoil and strike the unsuspecting group.

"Look out!" Tom shouted. "There's two behind you!"

Sadly, they couldn't hear him.

The monsters jumped at once. Tom closed his eyes right before the claws landed on their target, but he couldn't close his ears. A yell of pain and surprise startled the air. He opened his eyes, unable to take the pressure of not knowing what was happening. Ace fought off the two Predators, but was loosing. Katelle was held back by Allan, and they were trapped behind another Predator.

The two Predators dragged Ace, kicking and screaming, into the jungle while the last Predator eyed Katelle and Allan. Then it turned tail and ran, with Katelle and Allan firing wildly at its back. The creature fell mid-jump, dead. They ran back into the forest calling desperately after Ace. All they could hear was the cries of animals, and Predators.

The dream ended abruptly as someone shook him awake.

Percy's concerned sea green eyes looked down at him. "You okay?" He asked.

"Um. Yeah, I think." Tom replied, rubbing his eyes. "Nightmare."

Percy's expression turned grave. "What about?"

"It's not important," Tom snapped.

Percy raised his hands in surrender. "Hey! Don't blame a guy for caring." He walked away, not even knowing how stunned he left young Tom Riddle.

_Caring?_ The concept was foreign to him. No one, ever, had cared for him the slightest. There had been Edison Javelin, but he had been adopted by a weird lot of people. They had looked like Army, but slightly different. Ever since then, he hadn't had a friend. Could he count these people as friends? They acted like Edison, in some ways. If that was true, then he suddenly had a lot of friends. About fourteen or fifteen of them, to be precise.

He left Flourish &amp; Blotts in a daze. He had so many questions bouncing around in his head that he was starting to feel overwhelmed. Why were Katelle and Allan so much older in dream? Who were all of these kids? Where did they come from? Most of all: why him? Why did they show up at his orphanage of all places, and pick him to befriend of all people? There had to be a reason, and he wanted to know.

He glanced at Katelle, realizing how much nicer she looked as an eleven year old. She was down-right scary in the dream.

He ran to catch up with them, and stopped by Katelle. "So, how old are you?"

"Si – eleven, duh." She said. "We're going to Hogwarts, remember?"

"So you're all the same age?" Tom asked.

"Yup." She said.

"That an interesting . . . coincidence."

"You know what?" She asked. She looked him straight in the eyes, her own blue-green-gray eyes suddenly seeming so much older. "I don't believe in coincidences."

She stalked away, disappearing into Atla Averice's Robes For All Necessities. Tom stopped, frowning in confusion. What was that supposed to mean? She was trying to tell him something, he was sure, but he didn't know _what_ she was getting at. Maybe it was her way of saying that their ages weren't a coincidence. He had no clue whatsoever.

He followed the large group into Atla Averice's to get his Hogwarts robes, trying to leave behind the waves of doubts, confusion and questions that threatened to drown him. Atla was a slim, older woman with white hair and misty green eyes. She kept her place very cool, and it was covered in the latest fashion designs for robes. She had hundreds of white lilies all over her store, tinting the air with a sweet smell.

As soon as they were fitted for robes, they left to collect the rest of the odds and ends of their Hogwarts necessities. When they finished, they were only left with two more things: pets and wands. Tom hoped he could have a snake. He liked snakes, and he was sure they liked him, unlike other people. And it turned out that said people had gotten their wands while he was sleeping, with the exception of Sirius, Katelle and Allan.

He voted to get his wand after he got a pet, however. He said he wanted to save the best for last, but in all honesty he really wanted to get a pet snake. Why couldn't he, when Nico had a pet snake he carried everywhere called Sheraleth? Sheraleth always mourned for two previous owners, whom she referred to as 'boss' and 'little one'. Her master and 'little one' had, according to their few conversations, gone missing, and no trace could be found. Since attempting to console the snake was impossible because he apparently looked like their doppelganger, he steered clear of her.

Eeylop's Owl Emporium was much more cheerful than Sheraleth, though, and he enjoyed the shop very much. There was hundreds of animals, and even more bright, shining eyes glinting in the cool aisles. He cheered up even more when he discovered the reptile section, which was filled with snakes, lizards, and a few other types of reptiles. As soon as walked by the snakes, they started calling out to him in their whispering, hissing voices.

"_A young ssspeaker of our tongue!"_ A snake cried out.

"_We have waited many yearsss for you to come!"_ Another called.

"I_ have waited yearsss for the young massster to come, you mean,_" a louder voice hissed.

"_You've waited yearsss for me to come?_" Tom asked with very little amusement. _"What isss it with everyone knowing about me before I know them?" _

"_Young massster! Bosss,"_ the same loud voice said above the mutters of the other snakes, _"It isss not yet time to sssay, but I am happy to sssee you!"_

"_I can't sssee you,_" Tom replied, scanning the snakes.

"_I am the lassst cassse on the left, young bosss,"_ The snake said quickly. _"I am called __Averanth."_

"_Averanth . . . ,"_ Tom mused, walking to end of the glass cases of snakes to find a snake about four feet long, with brilliant green and silver scales on her back, and a creamy stomach. She blinked bright round black eyes at Tom, a pink tongue darting out of her mouth.

"_Do you approve of the name, young massster?"_ The snake asked boisterously. _"Or are you going to rename me?"_

"_No,"_ Tom hissed back. _"I like the name. Keep it."_

"_Good,"_ Averanth shot back snappily._ "I planned to."_

"_You're rather feisssty,"_ Tom said with a soft laugh. _"That'sss another thing that'sss bothering me: everyone isss ssso bad tempered."_

Averanth seemed to have the think about her reply as Tom lifted her from her case gently. She slithered up his arm and curled around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder. He expected her to come back with some philosophical speech, but instead she said, _"I think they have jussst been living with you for to long, young massster."_

"_That makesss me feel ever ssso much better, Averanth."_ Tom rolled his eyes, patting her head.

He left the pet store, and realized he only had one more thing to get before they left for Hogwarts. By the end of that day, he would be sorted into a house, which he would stay in for the rest of his life. This day, while a small notch on the graph, would direct his fate. No matter how small it seemed, it would be grand in the long run. The thought scared him more than he wanted to admit, but there was no hiding it. He was terrified.

He met up with Katelle, Sirius and Allan in front of a small store. On the front of the store, the sign said: OLLIVANDER'S WANDS, _Finest Wands Since 328 BC._ The store was old and dusty looking, with widows filled with boxes and papers. When he opened the door, he turned up dust and the sunlight was visible through it. Far off, the shop was too dark to see in clearly. There could be anything hiding in the shadows, waiting to jump out and eat him.

He noticed the glaces of the others, and he squared his shoulders and walked in. He didn't want to seem like a coward in front of Katelle and Allan, who, despite for being on eleven, seemed like the type who could have a monster scream in their faces and wouldn't blink. If he wanted to compete with that, he was going to have to try hard. Maybe Gryffindor was his house, after all? Slytherin sounded so much like him, though . . .

Back to present. Where was –

An old man slid out of one of shelves on a latter, a few wand boxes tucked under his arm. He studied the boxes on the shelves intently, his luminous owl-like silver eyes glowing as he muttered under his breath. He seemed preoccupied by something, and whatever it was must have been incredibly interesting, because he didn't notice them at all.

Finally, the old man looked up and saw them. A shadow passed over his face, but then he broke into a smile. "Ah, long have I awaited this day."

* * *

**A/N: So, Tom probably seemed a little (lot) OOC here. But, he's eleven. And he has these weird kids that know more than they should about him, carry around pictures of dead people, and have journals talking about traumatic experiences. He has a right to freak out. I would, at least. **

**So I'm posting _really_ early. Don't get used to it. But it's Rosh Hashanah, so I decided to celebrate with an extra chapter. If you don't know what Rosh Hashanah is, it's a Jewish holiday (I'm not Jewish, but I like some of their holidays) which celebrates repentance and life and so on. And it has apples dipped in honey and pomegranates. (The best part of it, lol). **

**I've been going through my notes (yeah, I take notes for this. There's a lot that's going to be going on) and I don't think it's going to be as many chapter as the previous story, but it will be denser in quality. So, if you liked the chapter, review! If there was something that irked you (Tom's OCCness, sorry), or if there's any questions, I'll try to answer them.**

**ww1990ww: yeah, well there's new in the time travel business. And like some I highly look up to said once: "it's so conspicuous, it's inconspicuous." I'll have to check out those books. Adding some more books to my personal library of Congress couldn't hurt . . .**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Deja Vu on Hogwart's Express

"Ah, long I have awaited this day," Ollivander said.

"What does that mean?!" Tom practically shrieked. "Why is everyone saying that! And no one is explaining _anything!_"

"I sort of agree," Sirius muttered.

"Only sort of?" Katelle replied.

Ollivander only smiled. "It will make sense one day, young Mr Riddle. I believe you are here for your wands?"

Tom gaped, but before he could lapse into another hysterical fit, Katelle started talking. "Yeah. I'll go first. I'm right-handed, forced, naturally left-handed but I've never really used my left hand. If that makes any sense."

Ollivander nodded. "You're flexible with both hands, though . . . hmm . . ." He disappeared behind a shelf, and when he came back he held several more wand boxes in his hands. He systematically set them down, muttering the wood and core under his breath.

He looked up and gave Katelle a critical look. "You have a rather special father, don't you?"

Katelle spluttered, but Ollivander waved his hand. "No worries. Try this one: Redwood and phoenix feather, ten inches, nice and supple." He handed her the red and gold colored wand, which she seemed to like.

She waved it through the air, and hundreds of numbers flew out of its tip, wrapped in chains and spinning in spirals before dissolving into the air. Her eyes widened and her face turned stricken and pale. She looked back at Allan, who shrugged. She sighed and turned the wand around her hands carefully, as if inspecting it for traps. Finally she looked up at Ollivander and pursed her lips.

"I'll take it."

Allan's dark eyes glinted with worry. "Kat –"

"No, Allan!" She snapped. She glared at Ollivander. "How much for it?"

"That will be eight galleons," Ollivander said.

Katelle handed him the galleons quickly from her sack, and walked to the back of the store to sit in a rickety looking wooden chair.

Allan went next, and his wand reacted as strangely as Katelle's. A storm of lighting and flying bits of debris spiraled out of the tip of the wand, filling the room with the smell of ozone and fresh, cool mountain air. The fresh air was so pleasant, Tom found himself leaning into the wind, which was so much nicer than the musty London air around his orphanage. Allan looked at the wand with a mixture of longing and sadness.

"That's subalpine fir, also known as Rocky Mountain fir. It's a rare type of wood – only found in North America. The core is dragon heartstrings, eleven and a half inches, quite snappy, but once it finds its master, it is a very loyal wand." Ollivander looked at it fondly before setting it back in its box wrapping it with dark brown paper. "Allan Saures, you say?"

Allan hesitated, and then asked, "how do you know my name?"

"Never mind that!" Ollivander said cheerfully. "Oak, unicorn tail hair, twelve inches. Jamie Saures, you father, correct?"

Allan shook his head. "There's no way. My father is from the Samoan islands."

"Samoa?" Tom blurted. "I thought their really big and strong?"

Allan scowled. "What are you trying to say?"

"That you're a shrimp," Katelle flatly. "I agree."

"And," Allan said loudly, addressing Ollivander, "Jamie is my little brother. And he's dead. How could you mistake him as my father?"

A look of comprehension passed over Ollivander's face. "I see. Curious, very curious."

"Is that his trademark?" Sirius muttered. "'Curious, so very ever so much curiosity over here."

"Talk about it," Katelle grumbled.

"That was barely a passable sentence," Allan said.

Tom frowned. Sometimes following their conversations was like figuring out a different language. Only that language had code words that only the native speakers knew, and decoding them meant asking them what it meant. Like when Leo woke up once and said, "'Sup?" Tom had stood there blinking at him. He had thought Leo meant supper, but it turned out 'sup' was one of their strange ways of greeting. Same as 'what's up', 'wassup', 'wazzup', and 'hey', which was _not_ spelled like 'hay', and must not be fed to cows. Don't ask.

If that wasn't enough, there was 'sucktastic' (Leo), 'gods of Olympus' (just about all of them, whatever it meant), 'yo' (he still didn't know what that was supposed to mean) and a few others that he couldn't get for the life of him. Swag being one of them. Every time one of the kids said something like that, he was wanted to shriek at them to speak in normal English. They said was a New Yorker thing. Tom said they were insane.

"Mr Riddle?"

Tom jumped, startled from his trail of thought. Ollivander held a few wands in his hands. "You favor your left hand, do you not?"

"Um," Tom cursed himself for stuttering. He never stuttered! "Yeah." _Yeah? What the heck . . . what is heck? What the whatever the bloody well you want to insert here is 'yeah'?_ He coughed and shifted, noticing the strange looks of Allan and Katelle, and the pride of Sirius. He scowled and straightened. "Yes. I am left handed. May I ask how you know this?"

Ollivander only smiled, and offered a wand "aspen and unicorn hair, eleven inches" but snatched it from Tom's hand before he had a chance to swish it. Then Tom was given, "cypress, dragon heartstrings, twelve inches," but he ended up upending a few racks of wands. Next, "eucalyptus and phoenix feather, twelve and a half inches," but the same thing happened. Three wands later, Ollivander's Wands, Finest Wands Since 328 BC, had no windows, no chairs – Katelle was ticked – and most of the wands on the shelves had been knocked down.

Finally, Ollivander pulled out a newer-looking box – the only box that hadn't been knocked down from the previous wand "holly, phoenix feather, eleven inches" and wiped off non-existent dust. He returned to the counter with the box, and carefully pulled out a pale yellow-white wand. He held it up in front of Tom, his owlish eyes glowing in a ray of light gliding in through the window.

"Yew and phoenix feather, thirteen and a half inches, unyielding. This wand will conform to one master, and only one master. This feather was given by a friend of mine's phoenix not long ago, I hadn't expected it to find a master so soon, but who knows?" Ollivander twirled the wand between his fingers expertly. Tom resisted the urge to snatch it out of his hand.

_Give it, give it, give it, give it, give it . . . _

"Why don't you give it a swish?"

The words had barely left his mouth before Tom snatched the wand and jerked it through the air as if it were a sword. It seemed like the only natural thing to do with it, actually. A stream of green and blue sparks flew from the wand, flowing through the air like a tidal wave. He smiled triumphantly at his wand. One master, and only one master. Surely that meant Slytherin was his house?

_Back on this?_

Tom stiffened. That didn't sound like his usual internal thinking voice. It had been cool, but comforting, like the beach on a still day, the waves gentle and lapping.

_I must be going insane,_ he thought.

No one answered.

Sirius got his wand last, a dogwood and dragon heartstrings, ten inches. The wand sprouted red and gold sparks in the air like fireworks, which made the dog animagus smile. When they finished paying up for their wands, they met the rest of the group near the entrance of Diagon Alley, the Leaky Cauldron. It wasn't the best set up, in Tom's perspective, but no one else seemed to care about that.

_And since _when_ did you care about other people caring?_ Tom chided himself. These other kids were making him disgustingly soft.

Professor Merryweather didn't help. He was one of those teachers you couldn't help but be fond of. They were wise, good at what they taught and made it fun. Professor Merryweather ran through a list of the jokes he had told in class the year before, and the names of the games we was going to introduce in the new school year. And the best thing was, he was the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He knew a plethora of things about defensive spells, offensive spells, wards and a thousand and one other things that went over Tom's head.

When Tom glanced at Harry, he could see him looking up and sky with his hands clasped and saying "thank you, thank you, thank you!" to himself. He didn't know what it meant, but Harry looked pretty funny like that.

_Pretty funny? Seriously? Wait a minute. Seriously. Since when do you use words like that? This is so, so, so annoying. As soon as I get to Hogwarts I'm dumping – there I go again. Dumping. I'm so doomed. _Tom argued himself mentally while Merryweather led the way to King's Cross Station. The entire way, through Taxi cabs, crazy – _crazy? Really?_ – crowds and he even stayed lost in his thoughts when they stopped in front of the barrier between platform nine and ten.

"Uh, Tom?" Sirius's voice reached his ears, breaking his line of thought. "Were you listening?"

Tom looked up, grasping desperately for words. "Oh – um. Yeah. I was listening. Go on."

"You first." Sirius said with a devious grin.

"What?"

"You go first!"

"Go . . . where first?" Tom asked, gritting his teeth irritably.

"You weren't listening," Sirius sang childishly. "I guess Professor Merryweather has to explain it again."

Tom willed himself not to turn red with a mix of humiliation and anger. "Sorry. I was . . . preoccupied."

"Understatement of the year," Katelle muttered.

"Shut it," Tom snapped back."

"Oh my gods!" Leo gasped dramatically, grasping his face and widening his eyes. "Our little Tommy is learning . . . _slang!_ He's all grown up!"

Sirius wiped a fake year from the corner of his eye. "I'm so proud of him."

"Oh just be quiet!" Tom snarled, although the use of the word 'gods' with a plural hadn't escaped him. Was that why they were so strange? Did they believe in ancient gods?

"Doth mother know thy speaketh such strong words?" Leo asked.

"What is it with you and archaic English?" Tom snapped. "And you don't even do it right!"

"Children," Professor Merryweather said sternly. "Listen. The barrier is the entrance to platform nine and three quarters, all you have to do is run straight through it. Don't be afraid, all you have to do is run and you'll be on the other side before you know it. Go on, Tom."

Once again, Tom found himself being thrust in the role of leading. Was it just him, or where they doing this on purpose? He glanced back at the others, and they all wore the identical expressions of: _what're you, scared?_ He scowled and gripped the handle of cart tightly. He wasn't a coward. Gryffindor or Slytherin? Bravery or cunning? Both? Snake in lion's clothing? Now that was sly and cunning.

_This again?_

_Who are you?_

_Someone who has risked a lot to keep you alive._

_Very reassuring. _

_So what is it? Bravery, or cunning? _

Tom ignored the voice and started to run. The barrier came closer – was he really trusting a man he just met? – and the cart was speeding up – he really wanted to close his eyes – and the barrier was only seconds away – would he crash into the wall? Would the muggles see? – the cart was out of control – he really wanted to close his eyes – time slowed down. Suddenly he was running at a much slower – or was it the same? – pace as before. He still wanted to close his eyes, but he wouldn't let the others have the teasing material of knowing he closed his eyes. Almost there – any time now – would it hurt? Maybe –

He passed through the barrier.

Once on the other side, he dug his heels into the ground and stopped. His heart pounded, and he had broken out in a stressed sweat. He stopped the cart and let go of handles, slowing his breathing so when the others came through it wouldn't be overly obvious he was afraid. His head a strange rushing feeling, as if he was injected with tons of caffeine. He had only had coffee once, and he had literally attempted to jump up one of the walls and do a flip. Suffice to say, it hurt and Mrs Cole hid the caffeine from then on.

Suddenly Percy appeared from the solid brick wall. His eyes were wide open, and he had a look of extreme concentration on his face. When he realized he wasn't a dead, he started laughing and whooped. Tom felt a smile tug at the corner of his mouth. Just then, Sirius sprinted through, yelling something about a marauder. Sirius stopped on a dime and jumped in the air and pumped his fist. He held a hand up in front of Percy, who smacked his hand.

Tom was somewhat confused by this, but he had more to worry about when they both threw arms around his shoulders, nearly knocking him over forward. Sirius gave a crazy laugh. "So, what did you think, Tommy boy?"

Tom scowled. "Don't call me –"

"Oh, you know you thought it was fun," Percy said, ruffling Tom's hair with his knuckles.

"Actually I don't –"

"Adrenaline rush!" Sirius cheered. "Next level: jumping off a high building. Any building will suffice."

"I don't think –" Their cheer was rubbing off on him. He felt the humor rising up in his chest and threatening to burst out. Where was the years of self-control and stoic personality that he built up for so long?

"I will teach him to prank, joke and I will name him George," Percy cut Tom off.

There was a three-way wrestling match going on, with Tom in the middle, and Sirius and Percy on the outside. Tom was trying not to laugh and to get them off of him, and Percy and Sirius were trying to get him to crack up. So far Tom suspected he would succumb to the temptation of laughter soon if he didn't escape somehow.

Katelle ran through the barrier, took one look at them, and burst into laughter. She leaned over her cart and laughed at them. Tom couldn't hold it in anymore. He spluttered and laughed, fighting Percy and Sirius off of him as hard as he could, but the two boys were surprisingly strong. Finally Tom became so tired he just gave up and threw his arms around the other boys, like a normal boy would with friends.

Harry was in the sight of his life when he ran through the barrier. His mouth dropped open in shock when he saw Tom Marvolo Riddle shoving Percy and Sirius around like brothers and taking their friendly abuse rather well. He looked at Katelle, who was recovering from her bout of laughter. She straightened and grinned at him, flashing him a thumb's up with both hands.

"Has the dark lord in waiting gone mad?" Harry asked Katelle under his breath.

"He's cracked," she whispered back. "Totally, utterly insane. Sirius and Percy had accomplished our mission."

Leo ran through next. He took in the scene and grinned. "Does making a nuts dark lord insane make him sane?"

"That makes no sense." Katelle said.

"You say that all the time," Leo said nonchalantly.

One by one, the rest of them ran through the barrier. Draco gaped openly at Tom, and Piper couldn't wipe her smile from her face. Annabeth had a look in her eyes that she got when she finished a complicated schematic. Frank looked confused, and Hazel was threatening to burst with happiness. Part one of their plan was ready: they only had to get part two underway. Tom would have to be in a certain house for their plan to work, and it wasn't in the one he was supposed to be in. Failure wasn't an option in this instance.

Jason came through last. He smiled at Tom, Percy and Sirius's antics and said, "so, looks like they're going to be the new trio?"

Ron crossed his arms and gave a small pout. "But we're the Golden Trio."

"Don't worry," Harry said. "Sirius will want to revive the spirit of the Marauders. The Golden Trio will be us forever."

Hermione smiled, "and they better not forget it."

"Okay, okay – okay guys!" Tom said sharply. "The train will be leaving soon – we have to put it where the first year luggage goes."

Sirius sighed dramatically. "Fine. We'll discuss the Marauders later."

Harry, Hermione and Ron laughed. Sirius never failed to live up to their expectations. Dumbledore smiled serenely, taking the scene in with something like relief. He had always felt guilt about the hard turn Tom Riddle had made in his life. Tom hadn't started out an evil person, but circumstances, people and environment had hardened him to the point of no longer caring about anything. Being a half-blood sorted into Slytherin didn't help much either.

Dumbledore was just happy Tom got a second chance. Not everyone got that chance.

Hogwarts Express hadn't changed much since the time Percy, Harry and Co. had come from. The large, shiny red engine blew steam in the station as it whistled its intentions of leaving soon. When they finally piled on to the train, pushing and shoving each other and being the loudest people in platform nine and three quarters, they set to finding a compartment. Easier said than done when you were a group of thirteen plus people.

They tumbled down the corridor of the train like a hurricane, laughing, shouting and fake-punching each other (the boys). They earned several stares from other students like sneers (the Malfoy-like students), scoffs (the Percy Weasley types), grins (Sirius logged them away for possible Marauder recruits), and blank stares (the confused 30's girls). Finally they found a compartment with only one kid in it, and the kid didn't seem to notice them.

They paused and looked at each other. Roughly half of them would be able to fit in there comfortably. If they could reach an agreement to who went where –

Percy, Jason, Leo, Sirius, Frank, Tom (yes, even the glowering dark lord in waiting), Harry and Nico jumped at once to get in. Basically all of the boys rushed headlong into the compartment without a second thought. Percy and Nico scraped up their shoulders on the sides of the compartment, and the others, one way or another, tripped over each other and ended up in a heap on the floor. By the end of the turmoil, Percy, Nico, Leo and Sirius had gotten the seats that they wanted, and everyone else was piled awkwardly in the compartment.

Katelle glowered angrily in her corner. She was squashed up against Frank, who was pressed against Hazel, who was struggling to breath with Sirius on the other side of her. Percy had the best spot across from the boy, with Annabeth and Piper to his right side, and Jason to his left. Tom was practically riding up the wall in an attempt to not touch anyone. So far, he was failing in his mission miserably. Leo held his breath in an a full-force attempt to not burst into flames in a compartment full of combustible demigods and wizards.

For a few seconds it was silent. Now that they weren't making a tornado of sound, the train seemed fairly quiet.

Surprisingly, through out the entire ordeal, the mystery boy hadn't budged from his sleep. He was pressed against the side of the compartment with his face on one hand, and the other hand resting of a piece of metal sticking out from his jacket. He looked like he had gone through a war zone, with ripped and frayed clothes, and cuts and bruises over his face. His curly sand colored hair was matted and hung in oily ropes, as if he hadn't had time to bathe for a while. There were dark circles under his eyes that spoke of many sleepless nights, and he looked skinny and dehydrated.

"You pay for food, I'll pay for water?" Percy muttered.

"Maybe I can get my mom to give him some new clothes?" Piper asked under her breath.

"In the 1930's?" Annabeth replied. "Aphrodite doesn't even know you exist."

"True."

The sat for a few seconds staring at the kid. Percy frowned a turned his head to level his stare with the boy's face. He was about twelve years old, maybe going into his second year. There was something very familiar about him . . .

"Theon!" Percy yelled.

Everyone jumped, and then the recognition kicked in. Jason leaned over and shook his shoulder. "Theon! Theon, buddy, it's us!"

Faster than lightening, Theon had woken up, pulled a long wicked-looking blade from his jacket and had it pressed against Jason's head. Jason froze, staring at the long, shining sword with a little apprehension.

"Uh, Theon?" Percy said. "It's us."

Theon blinked, as if he was coming out a bad dream. "Wait – this – impossible."

Meanwhile, Tom looked confused. Annabeth took a deep breath. They were going to have to tread lightly. "Oh, Theon! We haven't seen you ages. What have you been up to in the States?"

_How did you get here? Where did you come from? How have you been in you travels?_

Theon swallowed and sheathed his sword. His face broke into a smile, which looked painful with his cracked lips. "It really is you guys. I thought was another Predator."

"You call them Predators?" Annabeth asked, deciding to throw caution into the wind. They would have to "explain everything" to Tom later.

Theon snorted. He sat down with a huff, cross his arms. His eyes were stormy. "Why shouldn't I? I feel better calling them something that pronounceable, and the mortal's name for them. Sort of puts it in the gods' faces."

Piper suddenly threw herself at him with a hug. "We were so worried! The gods told us they'd just booted you into a different time, and we were so worried!" She pulled herself away with a bright smile.

"The gods?" Tom yelled. "What the bloody hell is going on?"

"Oh, shut up," Theon snapped. "You're the reason I'm here anyway."

"What?" Several people said at the same time.

Nico held up his hands in a time-out gesture. "Hold up! Before we get to anomalies and so on, where are the twins? Where is Ivan and Aiden?"

"How many of you are there?" Tom grumbled.

Theon sighed, "I don't know. We got separated after the Cretaceous Period. They stayed behind to hold off a pack of _Gigantosaurus_. I had the run through the anomaly, and it closed before they came through. I haven't seen them since then."

"You know," Tom said, "it's rather rude to –"

Theon snapped his fingers and concentrated on Tom. "We're having a discussion about sports in the States. There is nothing of interest over here."

Tom blinked, and then rolled his eyes. "No, I'm actually fairly sure you were talking about gods and time travel. I could be mistaken."

"He's immune," Theon said in disbelief. "Is he . . .?"

"We don't know for sure," Percy said quickly before Harry could answer "no!"

"Don't know what for sure?" Tom demanded furiously, his face turning red.

"I thought he was Slytherin?" Theon asked in ancient Greek.

"Now that is just rude," Tom snapped.

Katelle snickered and replied in the same language, "Puzzles over here has picked up a bit of temper."

"No thanks so _someone,_" Leo said.

"Watch it, Green Lantern," She said dangerously.

"Ouch. Low blow." Leo muttered.

"Anyways," Annabeth continued, "Have you heard of Felix or the twins since then? At all?"

"Felix wasn't with us long. And considering that I just lost them yesterday, I think – it's hard to tell time with all of this traveling stuff – no, I haven't." Theon replied. "It was like a cruel chance of fate. We had been stuck in the Cretaceous for several weeks, and we were all sick to death – no pun intended – of dinosaurs. _Finally_ an anomaly opens up when we set to rights the 'unbalance'," he made air quotations and said it with an unflattering sneer, "and then the _Gigantosaurus_ came and ruined everything. They had been on our tails for days, so it was only a matter of time, but it was frustrating."

Nico had turned very pale. "So . . . you don't even know if they were . . . killed?"

Theon shrugged. "As far as I can tell, they're still alive." He held up a necklace that was tied around his neck. "We were given this. It was so we could tell if one of us got killed. So far, they're alive. That doesn't mean they're uninjured, though."

"But they're stuck eighty-five million years in the past?" Nico asked.

"Pretty much," Theon said. "At least until another anomaly opens up, but who knows where _that_ would take them? They could end up thousands of years on the future with those Predators attacking non-stop." He shuddered. "That's enough to drive anyone mad."

"There has to be some way to rescue them," Percy said, gesturing around as if there was something in the immediate vicinity that would send them back in time to the twin's new era.

"Not until I correct an inconsistency," Theon said, "and that inconsistency includes Tom Riddle over there."

Tom perked up. "What inconsistency includes me?"

"He's learning to speak ancient Greek already?" Theon muttered. "Fast learner."

"You have no idea," Katelle growled under her breath.

Allan suddenly joined in on the conversation, but in Latin rather than Greek. "We're going to have some problems with him. Katelle – he got into your stuff today. Probably scarred him for life."

Katelle reared up like an angry cobra. "What? He snooped? I told him that I'd shoot him if he –"

"Yeah, about that?" Percy said, "he's been having nightmares, and I think they're important."

"Has he said anything about them?" Theon asked. "Lately dreams are the only things we can rely on."

"No," Percy sighed. "Sirius," he lapsed back into English, "how was that Marauders thing going on?"

Sirius beamed. "I have several people I'm looking at for interviews."

"You're going to interview people for a band of prankers?" Frank asked incredulously.

"Pranks?" Leo, Jason and, surprisingly, Tom seemed to suddenly start listening a little more intently.

"Yes!" Sirius said cheerfully. "Like: Tom Riddle, what do you think of pranks?"

"I don't," Tom replied flatly.

"You're hired!" Sirius cheered.

"That was easy," Jason said. "Can I be in?"

"Oh, can I?" Leo asked.

"Whoa," Percy said, "you're forgetting me."

Theon smiled wanly, shaking his head. "We're getting off-topic. People are always trying to tamper with time. There is one man and a woman – I haven't been able to figure out who they are yet – who is always making this disturbances. I really think that as soon as he's taken out, our lives will become a lot easier."

"How –"

"I don't know how to identify him at once." Theon said.

"Then how –"

"I don't know how to catch him." Theon answered before Percy even finished his question.

There was silence for a few minutes, with the exception of Sirius, Leo, Jason and Tom. They were discussing Marauders names. Sirius wanted to be called Padfoot – surprise, surprise – Leo tried to patent Bad Boy Supreme, but stuck with Fang. Jason stuck with Piper's nick-name, Sparky, and Tom wouldn't let any of them come up with nicknames for him. Sirius told him that when they busted out the animagus potions, Tom would have a nickname come Hades or high water.

Tom had replied that 'busted' wasn't the proper way to word his sentence. Leo had said a comment about the British cult of proper people, which had a sparked an argument about the sloppiness of Americans and the stuffiness of British, with Leo and Jason on one side, and Tom holding out on his own fairly well on his own side. Sirius at back and watched with a devilish grin on his face.

Annabeth kept glaring at the loud boys over her book, which made them quiet down for a few minutes, but they would gradually get louder until she glared at them again.

The trolley lady went by – Percy thought she looked just like the woman from their original time – and Leo and Jason had to shut up while Tom enjoyed his first bite at candy ever. Unfortunately, that candy had turned out to be a beeswax Bertie Bott's All Flavor candy. Tom hadn't trusted anyone else to give him candy after that. In fact, Sirius had cheerfully pointed out, Tom was probably be so terribly frightened of candy, he would never eat it again.  
That wouldn't do, so Tom proved him wrong by nearly eating all the chocolate frogs – much to the consternation of Ron and Frank.

Theon looked very relieved to be having his first meal in weeks without having to worry about going on the run, or fighting off a super-monster. He didn't have any information about Felix, but he did tell them that the small son of Boreas was safe. According to Theon, Boreas had snatched his son away in another time in future so Felix didn't have to be involved in the business of time travel. Hermes hadn't had the chance to help Theon out, mainly because god/wizard was a bigger thing than god/magician for some reason that the demigods couldn't figure out.

The train rolled on for hours, small countryside towns, forests, and rolling and rocky hills blurring by. After a few hours, Theon fell asleep again. Tom pulled out his books and started to read, and Annabeth took his example and started to read as well. Sirius pouted as more and more of the occupants of the train "enlightened" themselves to their "first time" at Hogwarts.

Percy was rather excited despite that. The first time he had been at Hogwarts was as a "transfer", and it hadn't been very real. This time, they were going to Hogwarts to actually learn magic because they needed to, not to learn about the enemy. They had an idea that would help them with the imbalance of the world, but it was crazy. Then again, Percy reminded himself, when had they ever had a plan that _wasn't_ life threatening and insane?

Percy glanced at Tom, who was enraptured in _Hogwarts, A History._ It was odd to think that the entire balance of the world rested on the small shoulders of one unstable eleven year old boy. Percy wondered if that was how Chiron and Poseidon had felt like when Percy went on his first quest to find and return Zeus's Master Bolt. He suddenly felt a need to thank Chiron and Poseidon for their belief in him, because he didn't have much belief in Tom.

After all, how could anyone believe in a child who was fated to rise as a dark lord?

* * *

**A/N: So, I do have to put in some mistrust in Tom. He _is_ after all the dark lord junior. **

**This might have seemed a bit like a filler chapter, but Theon was reintroduced! Give him a break for being a little down and out - he was booted out of his time by the gods, forced to survive on his own for awhile, and then he had to abandon Ivan and Aiden in the Cretaceous period. **

**I'm thinking I'm going to have them going to a mix of different eras. There a ton of characters, so that leaves a lot of room for groups to go to different eras. (hint hint).**

**If anyone's still wondering, Tom's whole "dark lord" thing isn't going to the huge thing there. I mean, just because he turned into an evil psychopath does not mean he acted like one when he was eleven. _Any_ eleven year old would be disturbed by nightmares and weird people threatening death upon them (even Sherlock was disturbed by his dog Redbeard getting put down, and he's a *cough* high functioning *cough* sociopath). **

**The next chapter's going to from Draco's point of view of sorts. I have to explain why here's there and the sudden change in personality. *Heavy sight*. For some reason I was imagining Master Yoda in Ollivander's place during this part. I don't know why. I'll try to update again in two - four days. Review what you liked or didn't! **


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Book: _Sorting Hat Most__e__ Evile_

As Draco Malfoy walked off Hogwarts Express for the "first" time, he wasn't sure what to make of everything. He still didn't exactly like Harry Potter, but he also couldn't very well say he hated him anymore. The word mudblood no longer meant what it had to him once, and the word half-blood had definitely expanded in meaning. If only he had known in first year the twins he tormented were not only the sons of a major god, the lord of the Underworld to be precise, but directly descended from the dark lord.

The time travel thing confused him a little. If they changed Tom Riddle so much that he wouldn't be evil, wouldn't that mean the twins would never be born? Theon hadn't seemed worried about this. The young time traveler had figured that if they did change time, the only thing they would have to do was step back into their time and adapt quickly. Since adapting seemed to a talent of demigods, that was no problem.

Something occurred to Draco. He stopped in his tracks, which made everyone else pause. "Oh no."

"What?" Percy looked alarmed.

"Epilepsy?" Annabeth asked quickly.

"What – no!" Draco snapped. "I am not _that_ inbred. No, we're in the past, right?"

" . . . Yeah," Annabeth said.

"That means my grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy, will be here in his first year." Draco said, full of dread. "Sirius, that means your father will be in his second year."

Harry hesitated, and then said, "my grandfather will be here. Charlus Potter."

"Orion Black and Walburga Rosier," Sirius said with a grimace. "Maybe I can change that up a bit . . ."

"We're here to change _Tom's_ future," Piper said sternly, "not yours."

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius muttered.

They walked down the path way, following the sounds of the gamekeeper's voice. Draco never thought he would admit this, but he sort of missed Hagrid. The half-giant had a way of making the journey seem bright and cheerful, while this man, Mr Pringle, was down-right depressing. He was hunched over, had a long crooked nose, and muttered "this way, firs' years," in a half-grumble, so it sounded as if he was talking to himself.

The boat-ride was the same as he remembered, and so was castle as they walked in through the large double-doors. He was surprised by how little Hogwarts changed in fifty years. There were different faces, and different names, but the castle never changed. He wondered if Hogwarts looked the same during the time of the Founders. He wondered if their time travels would take them there . . . it was a possibility, after all.

Funnily enough, the man leading them to the Great Hall was Professor Dumbledore of 1938, or as Percy affectionately named him, P. Dumble. Even Dumbledore approved of this name, which Draco found strange. Had someone tried to him P. Drac, he'd be quite offended. P. Dumble rambled on about the history of Hogwarts and the Founders, the points system, and the houses. Draco thought he was a little bias toward Gryffindor, but he supposed Professor Snape hadn't been very unbias himself.

When Dumbledore led them into the Great Hall, Draco's mouth dropped open. The Great Hall had been _much_ fancier in the 30's then their original time. There were hundreds of floating white, yellow and blue lights wandering over the four tables, weaving and ducking to avoid the bats from the students and tossed projectiles. The same candles floated, but the wall were covered in elaborate paintings that seemed so realistic that it was as if he was looking into a passage way into a different era. The tables were glossy and new looking, covered in shining gold plates, goblets and utensils.

There was a slight buzz of energy in the air that made his step quicken and his own magic react. He felt as if his senses had stretched out, and he could feel the ancient energy emanating from the castle. He looked over and the Golden – he still thought this with a slight sneer – Trio, the Seven, Tom, Nico, Sirius, Dumbledore – Albus, he told himself, they couldn't call him Dumbledore forever, because they also couldn't call 1938 Dumbledore P. Dumble – and Severus. They looked as confused as he did, except for Tom who simply stared at the Great Hall in awe.

There were five other kids, one of them being Abraxas Malfoy and another Walburga Black. He noticed Sirius had already gotten in a heated debate with her about blood prejudice. Walburga tossed her shiny black hair and looked ahead stubbornly, her already hard brown eyes watching nothing but the Sorting Hat. The other three were kids Draco didn't recognize, but he figured they were important. One of them had tousled brown hair and gray eyes, so he figured it was Harry's grandfather Charlus Potter.

He was pulled out his thoughts when the Sorting Ceremony started.

"Azule, Theon!"

Theon sank down on the stool, exhausted despite his long sleep in the train. The past few weeks had worn him down – or was it months he had been going non-stop? Traveling through time could confuse a person. He was more than happy to have a place to stay before he had to go through another anomaly in time and fix another problem. He wouldn't know how long it would be before he got another chance like this, so he was going to use it while it lasted.

The hat sank on his head, not quite covering his eyes. He had grown quite a bit, but not as much as he thought he would have if he had had enough food. The hat started to file through his memories, and random flashes of different eras passed through his head.

He was in the Inca Empire, running from headhunters and struggling with a fever he had caught from the Spanish Conquistadors. Trees whipped by, scratching his arms and face, the wet jungle tangles pulling at his arms and legs. The twins were behind him, or was it yet another monster? It was hard to tell with the bloody fever . . .

Then he was resting up in a tall tree with Ivan and Aiden above and below him, keeping watch while he tried to sleep. Dinosaurs – and not friendly herbivores – wandered that area frequently, and he didn't want to become dino kibbles and bits. The moon shone through the pine needles, lighting up his skin and showing the cuts and the scars that were forming.

"_Such stress and pressure for young child,"_ the hat said. _"Do you want to be put in a more comforting house? I'm sure Hufflepuff would be perfect for –"_

"_I wouldn't be alive if I hadn't learned letting my guard down for a split second was a major no-no. So, I'd rather be put somewhere more active."_ Theon interrupted.

He hated being rude – he had met _way_ too many rude people in his travels – but he really wanted to get this over with. He had half a dozen potions he needed to brew, and he wanted to eat, and sleep, oh, and there was pranks. He wondered if he would have time for fun and pranks this time around. He had several ideas in mind – hey, what could he say? Son of Hermes had his priorities set, thank you very much. Although, he still couldn't get rid of that bad feeling he wasn't going to get a break.

"_Set and determined."_ The hat said matter-of-factly. _"Very well, then I guess it's – _GRYFFINDOR!"

Theon set the hat down, and aimed a tired smile at Dumbledore, who looked a little worried. Theon wondered if they could tell Professor Dumbledore about their secret. He wanted so badly to tell someone – someone other than a demigod, magician, or another time traveler – what he did for a full-time living.

He sat down at the Gryffindor table, took a few hasty bites of the chicken and rolls, and nodded off.

"Chase, Annabeth!"

Annabeth walked up stool and sat down. The hat fell over her eyes, blocking her vision so all she saw was blackness. She remembered when she was sorted last time, when they went to Hogwarts to learn what a wizard was and how to fight them. It was different this time, they were signing up at Wizard School for a place to stay, and to learn a little magic, her Athena side said, and figure out how to iron out their problem of Tom Riddle.

"_There's a lot of stuff going on in here, isn't there?" _The voice of the Sorting Hat said in her mind.

"_Yep. You've already sorted me, so get to it." _

"_Impatient, are you? Reminds me of good old Godric himself –"_

"_If you're going to sort every one of us by our tempers and patience level, we'll all be in Gryffindor." _Annabeth interrupted impatiently.

"_Very well. __Be wary of the people around you. Not all are what they seem.__ Better be, _RAVENCLAW!"

Annabeth got up and pulled the hat off her head, placing it back on the stool, frowning at the raggedy thing. Not all are as they seemed? Did that mean there was a spy, or a traitor? She was so tired of traitors from the last few wars. She tried to shake the thoughts out her head as she left and went down to join the other Ravenclaws. A girl and boy with white-blonde hair and pale blue eyes smiled dreamily at her, and she was reminded of Luna Lovegood.

"I'm Artemis," the girl said. "Artemis Lovegood."

"I'm Apollo Lovegood," the boy said. "Artemis's twin."

Annabeth laughed, and introduced herself, "Annabeth Chase."

"We know," Artemis said dreamily. "Professor Dumbledore called your name."

"What's so funny?" Apollo asked.

"Nothing, don't worry," Annabeth said with a smile. "You just remind me of a few people I know."

"Chase, Draco!"

Tom had to nudge Draco's side to get his attention. _Oh yeah,_ he thought. _My last name is Chase for now._

He sat down on the stool, and rubbed his hands on his trouser nervously. Nervous? Since when was he nervous? Admittingly, he had changed a lot since he had learned he was a half-blood – the demigod kind – and he had stayed for a summer at Camp Half-Blood. It was impossible not to loosen up there, and being an aristocrat was a place for the Aphrodite cabin. The Athena cabin toughened him up, and Clarisse herself had tried to stick his head in the toilet. He supposed the truth was that he was worried he had changed so much he wouldn't be in the same house.

Would he be fated to worry about being a called a dumb blonde, like Annabeth? Had Athena turned him into a nerd? Annabeth would stick him with her dagger for thoughts, but hey. He had his priorities.

The hat fell over his eyes, just like it had when he was eleven, only this time his hair was slicked back and he didn't have the same attitude. He hadn't cut his hair in some time – Camp Half-Blood often gave out free haircuts via lava climbing, or Clarisse's electric spear – and it was getting a little long for his liking. He was going to start looking like his father if he didn't do something soon.

"_If you don't want to sound like an Aphrodite spawn,"_ the hat said, _"then stop fretting about your hair."_

"_Oh, shut up, hat. Slytherin. Now." _

"_I don't know . . ." _

"_I will stomp you to pieces and feed you to hydra." _

"_It would take a lot of bravery to do that. Could you even take on a puppy hellhound?" _

Draco bristled angrily, his pride stinging deeply. Did the hat think he was coward? He had taken down two cyclopes on his way to Camp Half-Blood! And he had fought off Clarisse when she tried to use her matchmaking talents on him with the toilet! He had plenty of bravery, it was a trademark of a demigod. Was the hat implying he was bad demigod, or fighter? Or was it insinuating he didn't have the intelligence of an Athena child? He felt his blood boil – metaphorically speaking, of course – at the thought. How dare the bloody hat –

"GRYFFINDOR!"

There was a shocked silence where Draco suddenly realized what the hat had done. He face turned redder than it ever had before, and he shouted mentally, _"You stupid, horrid, mad, manipulative hat! I will burn you to ashes and then run you over with a __stampede of pegasus and__ –"_

The hat was pulled from his head, and he looked up into the twinkling eyes of Professor Dumbledore. _Oh no,_ he thought with despair. _Dumbledore is my new Head of House! _He sighed and walked off to the Gryffindors, who were completely unaware of his depression. _Typical Gryffindor_, he thought irritably. _Oh wait, I am a Gryffindor now! Just. Bloody. Great._

The others gaped openly at him, and he sneered back at them with his perfect Slytherin sneer. _So there,_ he shot mentally at the hat, even though it couldn't hear him. He looked at his fellow Gryffindors, who were pushing themselves around and acting like idiots. He wondered how long it was before he caught Gryffindoritus.

"Hello!" A cheerful voice said. He looked over to see a boy a year older than him with brick-red hair that was several shades darker than a normal Weasley and bright brown eyes. "I'm Than Weasley."

"Draco M – Chase."

"Draco Mchase? Interesting name!"

"Draco Manfred Chase. I got the –"

"Two letters mixed up," Than said with his ever bright smile. He was starting to remind him of a mix of the little kids in the Hermes cabin and Colin Creevey.

"Um. Yeah, that's it." He nearly groaned as the boy went on to start a conversation. The next few years were looking glum.

"di Angelo, Nico!"

Nico stepped out of line and sat on the stool, pulling the hat on his head in one fluid motion. He was set on one house: Slytherin. His brothers had been in Slytherin, he had been in Slytherin, and he knew he fit the sly and cunning of the house. Gryffindor was just too loud and too boisterous for him, and Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were too fluffy and smart for him. Not he wasn't intelligent, but Ravenclaw just wasn't for him.

"_You've already got your facts sorted, have you?"_ The hat chuckled in his head, _"You're an easy one. __Just remember, forgiveness is sometimes the hardest the to do, and might not always be rewarding, but it is the best thing to do. Hard times are ahead, but as long as you follow the basic right from wrong insticts, you should do just fine.__ I'll have to remember to warn you brothers in the future not to wreak too much havoc . . . _SLYTHERIN!"

Nico joined the other snakes as the Slytherin table, glancing around with his head spinning with questions. One boy politely introduced himself as Orion Black, and Nico remembered this was Sirius's dad. That was just a little two mind-boggling, so he decided to just ignore that fact and introduced himself as well.

The hat was even more infuriating than it had been last time. Forgiveness not Nico's strong suit, in fact, holding grudges was hi fatal flaw. Forgiving the gods for sending his brothers away? Well, that might take a while. He hoped that wasn't part of saving the ultimate future of mankind, because if it was, then he wasn't off to a good start.

"Evans, Albus!"

Albus Dumbledore "Evans" walked to the stool and settled on it, pulling the hat over his head. He smiled pleasantly, noticing the haunted look on Professor Dumbledore's face when he looked into sparkling eyes of his younger self, stepped right out of a picture from the late 1800's. He had figured his younger – or should he think older? – self would eventually recognize him, but he already had a plan for that. It was quite a good one, too.

"_HOLY SALAZAR'S KNICKERS!" _

"_I don't believe Salazar __would be fond you talking about his knickers__,"_ Albus said amiably, laughing lightly at the hat's surprise.

"_D__id I __ever tell you when__ Salazar __thought__he__ was immune to being drunk?"_ The hat asked with a loud laugh.

"_I'm sure that would be a very interesting story, how did Salazar b__ecome –__"_

"_Now now, Albus, __keep__ your attention spand, or lack thereof, __it check__."_ The hat chided with an amused undertone. _"I believe this is a no-brainer. You companions would probably riot if I didn't – wait, what's this? Harry's a horcrux?" _

"_I would prefer you don't tell him that," _Albus said worriedly. _"If we succeed in our quest here with young Tom Riddle then he won't be a horcrux."_

"_How can you be so sure?" _The hat asked. _"You don't know the way time works." _

"_Do you know?" _Albus challenged, tapping into his youthful rebellion.

"_I'm afraid I don't, but what I do know __for sure is that you must be on the lookout this year. There is someone in this castle that should not be. I, being only a hat – albeit the smartest – don't know who this person is, but I sensed this person as soon as they walked in. And I warn you, this character did not seem to be nice at all." _

"_Do you know anymore? And do not tell the children this," _Albus said.

"_Keeping secrets, are we Albus? Very well. I believe it__ is __clear__ that you __now__ belong in –_ SLYTHERIN!"

"WHAT?!" The sounds of twelve people rang through the Great Hall.

"That's impossible!" Ron exploded.

"No way!"

"Really?"

"How could –"

"Students!" Professor Dumbledore held up his hands to quiet them. "The hat has made its decision."

Albus frowned at the hat, but he walked to the Slytherin table quietly. He could clearly hear the protests of Harry, Hermione, Ron and Sirius. Severus was quiet, and he knew what the moody Slytherin was thinking. With all of the secrets and half-truths Albus had told over the past several decades, it was no surprise his house had changed, but he was still disappointed to not be put in his old house.

Then there was the warning the hat gave. Who was this mysterious person? If the past – or future, depending on how one looked at it – would play into account, this person would be the Defense Agaist the Dark Arts teacher. But no, that wasn't right. Professor Merryweather taught that class, and with the exception of one, all of the other professors had been teaching for years.

Albus focused on the new professor, who taught charms. He was a small man, with wire glasses and graying hair wrapped around his head to give the illusion of having more of it. There was nothing threatening or mysterious about him, but Albus supposed that even the most innocent looking people, the ones one least expected, could turn out to be traitors. Look at Peter Pettigrew. No one thought that he would have betrayed James and Lily Potter, but he did.

The former Hogwarts Headmaster sat down at the Slytherin table, still watching the new professor cautiously. He attempted _legilim__e__ncy, _but the other man had strong mental barriers up. As soon as Albus started trying to get past them, the man began to scan the faces of the students. Albus broke of the _legilimency _and looked around his new table.

"Evans, Harry!"

Harry was pensive as he walked up the hat. In his first year, the hat had been set on him being in Slytherin. What if he was put in Slytherin? He was sure he was a Gryffindor. He sat down on the stool and let the had block out his vision, feeling as terrified as he had when he was eleven years old for the first time. He was sure he had proven himself as the ultimate Gryffindor. But what if the hat saw it differently again? What if –

"_No need to worry yourself," _the hat said. _"Remember, your own choices are taken into account."_

"_I know,"_ Harry replied hurriedly. _"And I want to be put in Gryffindor."_

"_Figured,"_ the hat grunted. _" You'd make an excellent Slytherin, I say." _

Harry sighed in exasperation. _"How would I make such an excellent Slytherin? I'm nothing like them!" _

"_I can't really say, Harry Potter, but I will tell you this. Keep your eyes out this year. Don't expect 'reforming' Tom Riddle is going to be your job here, because it isn't." _

"_What do you mean?" _

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"_No wait!_" The hat was pulled off his head, and the voice fell silent. Harry got up and rejoined the Gryffindor table, sitting next to Draco and Theon, who was just starting to stir from his light nap.

Draco looked depressed, with a boy called Than Weasley. Harry supposed Than was one of Ron's relatives. He wondered which one, because he had never heard of the Weasleys talk about a Than before. Maybe it was some far-off cousin or something. Harry would have to ask Ron later, when it was Ron's turn to be re-sorted. At least he knew for sure that Ron would go into Gryffindor. What was plus. He had been completely shocked when Draco went into Gryffindor, and then even more shocked when _Albus Dumbledore_ was sorted into Slytherin.

"Hey!" Than said with a grin. "What's your name? And welcome to Gryffindor! I'm in my third year. Lots of people say I'm kind of immature, but who are they to say anything?"

"Uh, yeah." Harry said. "I'm Harry P – Evans."

"Pevans? You guys sure have some weird names!" Than said. "Or was that another mistake? Draco here said Mchase on accident. Mixed his second and last name up or something."

"Oh, yeah, that's what I did." _What's a middle name that starts with 'P' that's not Peter?!_ "Percival," he blurted out. "Harry Percival Evans." HPE? He hoped Sirius didn't start calling him hippie.

"That's cool!" Than said brightly.

Now he understood why Draco looked so miserable.

"Evans, Severus!"

There were mutters like, "another Evans?" and "what is there, a hundred of them?" as Severus walked shoved the hat on his head with a sneer. The mutters turned to "Slytherin for sure" and "don't want to mess with that kid". Severus ignored them and focused on being sorted into the best house ever, Slytherin.

"_Someone is __a bit of grump," _the hat said teasingly. _"I don't even have to think about this one. I'm going to give the same warning that I gave Albus. There is someone here, someone who shouldn't be here, and he's – I'm sure he's a he, but you never know, he might be a 'her' – powerful. So watch out." _

"_Never a quiet moment,_" Severus drawled out in his mind. _"Why am I not surprised with the Potter boy and his companions being here?"_

"_Severus, word from the wise old hat that has been around since the founder's era? Give up on the 'I hate Potter business'. It would only make your job here a lot harder." _

"_Our job cannot possibly get any more difficult, I assure you." _Severus mumbled.

"_Yes, it can, and it will. Time travel is serious business, and there are laws to be upheld. Trust me, this is only the beginning. Don't tell Albus anything I said about laws either. It will only distract him and everyone else." _Before Severus could reply, the hat shouted out, "SLYTHERIN!"

Right before the hat was pulled off, it whispered, _"and only the bravest snake could do the job you have done. Good job, and let go of the past."_

Severus got up and sat next to Albus as the Slytherin table, aiming sneers at the other students that were so fierce that even the older kids shied away from him. He sat there, glaring at his plate in silent moodiness to hide his inner turmoil. Was it possible? Could he _actually_ forgive Sirius – and James and Lupin, even though they weren't there – for the prank that had nearly cost him his life? He thought about for a few seconds, but the answer was always the same: _nope, definitely not._

Some things never changed.

"Grace, Jason!"

Jason, as everyone before him, sat on the four-legged stool and waited for the hat to speak. _"If only all people could make up their minds as you did,_" the hat finally said. _"Some people waste their whole life away wondering where they belong. It is rare to find one who can let go of the responsibilities of the past and look into the future, especially one so young."_

"_I just knew,"_ Jason said humbly. _"It was Piper or Camp Jupiter, and I knew that I belonged with Piper in Camp Half-Blood. The Greek way just . . . suited me." _

"_I agree,"_ the hat said. _"So far, I have warned everyone before you. I __have__ special thing to warn you about, though. Your enemy with especially hate you. __If my assumptions are correct, this this enemy will have a personal vendetta against you, because of your father." _

"_Jupiter? And if you have a slight clue, why don't you tell us?" _Jason asked.

"_Why would I fill your head with things that I myself am not sure about? Don't worry. Albus and Severus will be on the lookout, and that Annabeth is the most brilliant girl I've come across since Rowena Ravenclaw herself." _

"_Yeah. She is a daughter of Athena after all." _Jason replied.

"_The children of Athena are blessed with incredible intelligence,"_ the hat acknowledged. _"Enough small talk. Heed my warning, and _GRYFFINDOR!"

Jason pulled the hat off and ran to sit at the red and gold table at the end of the hall. Draco, Harry and Theon looked at him with a kind of desperation, and when he saw Than he realized why. He was easily one of the most hyper kids Jason had ever come across. That was saying a lot, since he had seen Dakota in his Kool-Aid sugur rushes, which was, by the way, not a good situation to be in. Try sticking a dog in a roomful of balls and china plates and that's what you got with Dakota and sugar rushes.

Jason smiled at Than, "Hey. I'm Jason Grace."

"Than Weasley!" Than said loudly. "Nice to meet you! I suppose you didn't get _your_ last names mixed up with your second names?"

Jason glanced at Harry and Draco, and they mouthed, _long story._

"Um, no, I didn't. My last name is Grace."

"Grace is a nice sounding last name, but it sounds a little girlish." Than informed Jason. "But it's not the worst! I had a cousin in Costa Rica – yeah, way over there! – and _he_ had a last name that made . . ."

Jason sighed and reminded himself to pack Aspirin next time he went on a journey over fifty years in the past.

"Grace, Sirius!"

Sirius bounded to the stool and sat on it, pulling the hat over his eyes. _"So, buddy! Been a long time, hasn't it?"_

"_I've never sorted you before today, but I'm not looking forward to the next time I have to sort you." _The hat replied wearily. He must have been getting tired of all of the time travelers.

"_Well, I don't think you'll have a problem with sorting me. I'm pretty cut and –"_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"You know, I could be insulted by how you cut my sentence off," Sirius informed the hat out loud.

"_Get over it,"_ the hat said. _"Oh and watch out for people that want to kill you. And do get thrown back in Azkaban." _

"_No duh."_

"_I'm being serious." _

"_No, I'm Sirius." _

"_That's not even funny." _

Sirius pulled the hat off his head, and went down to the Gryffindor table. That's when he met Than, and got the same headache treatment. He made a mental note not to add the kid – no offense, he was a good kid and all, but he was so hyper! – to his Marauders list. He also made a mental note to add 'look out for mysterious looking people' to his to-do list.

"Jackson, Perseus!"

Percy cringed when he heard his name, but to his surprise no one snickered like his name was a joke. He heard a few of the students mutter, "nice name", but it didn't sound sarcastic. Perhaps people in the 30's had a different taste for names. Then again, when people with names like "Bathilda" and "Walburga" complimented one about their name, that person might wonder if it was really a compliment.

The hat fell over his eyes – which it hadn't done when he was seventeen – and obscured his vision. He remembered when he when to Hogwarts, the hat had been divided between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. He kind of hoped the hat put him in Gryffindor again, because Hufflepuff just sounded too . . . Hufflepuff. Hey! He had a reputation to think about.

"_What reputation? Being a seaweed brain? Then Hufflepuff is definitely the house for you."_ The hat said.

"_Aren't you supposed to be unbias?"_ Percy asked.

"_We all have our secret bias,"_ the hat replied.

"_Yeah, like Area is bias towards being a jerk, and Zeus is bias towards being high-and-mighty." _Percy said irritably.

"_Careful," _the hat warned. _"The gods aren't so thankful toward you in this time. You won't be able to get away with stuff like that." _

"_Yeah, yeah,"_ Percy muttered. _"Is this the part you give me some doomsaying advice and then break off at a vital piece of information, irritating the Hades out of me?" _

"_Pretty much," _the hat agreed.

"_You're evil."_ Percy said.

"_As you 21__st__ century people say, yep." _The hat didn't seem apologetic at all. _"But I'm afraid this is important. The castle has an infiltrator. You will need to be on your best look out, but be careful that Harry and his friends don't be too quick to judge people who are innocent." _

"_Be vigilant, check," _Percy ticked off of his mental check list, _"don't be paranoid. Half check." _

"_I'm serious," _the hat said.

"_No, actually Siri –"_

"GRYFFINDOR! _Don't even try that joke." _

"Jeez," Percy grumbled as he pulled the hat off and waved at Annabeth before running down to the Gryffindor table.

"Levesque, Hazel!"

Hazel cautiously walked to the stool and sat on it, willing herself not to make jewels pop up all over the place. At it was, she had already had a ten carat diamond appear under her foot. She had only barely scooped it up in time before Abraxas Malfoy had turned around. She couldn't imagine what would have happened if he got a hold of one of her cursed stones. Abraxas would have died, which meant Lucius would have never been born, and then Draco would not be born . . . she tried not to think about that.

Time travel was confusing enough without thinking of the 'what could be' part of it.

"_Another time traveler? You know what – I'm not even going to rehash the same thing over again. Watch your back, stranger danger, blah blah blah. Hm . . . plenty of bravery, lots of loyalty, quite intelligent and cunning . . . Pick a number between one and four." _

"_That's so overly obvious that it's not even funny," _Hazel said.

"_A farting weasel! That's something new."_ Obviously the hat was going through her memories._ "Well, I guess I'll shake things up a bit. Better be _HUFFLEPUFF!"

Hazel wasn't sure if that was a good house or not, but the people sitting at the yellow and black house seemed friendly and welcoming. She sat down with the other first years, and smiled nervously at a girl with caramel pig tails as she pocketed a ruby and emerald. She just hoped Frank somehow got sorted into Hufflepuff. He was brave though, so he'd probably go into Gryffindor.

"McLean, Hermione!"

Hermione crammed the hat on her head like how she had nearly six years before, in the future, if that made any sense at all and crossed her fingers. Gryffindor, Gryffindor, Gryffindor . . .

"_A__b__rilliant mind you have, Hermione." _The hat commented. _"Are you sure that's not one of a Ravenclaw?" _

"_I am quite sure, thank you very much," _Hermione replied primly.

"_I'm sure you love reading?" _

"_Oh yes! I was reading _Hogwarts, A History_ again on the way here. I just can't get over all of the facts they have about Hogwarts in that book! I swear new things are being added to it every year. It's ama –"_

"RAVENCLAW!"

"You Slytherin!" She hissed in outrage.

The hat said nothing as Professor Dumbledore took it off her head and nodded at her to go off to the Ravenclaw table. Hermione sat at the blue and bronze table with Annabeth, which brightened her a little, and introduced herself to Artemis and Apollo Lovegood. Hermione had never found names more fitting than those for the Lovegood twins.

"McLean, Piper!"

By now, the entire Great Hall was filled the whispers of revelation about how many twins were joining that year. Piper figured they'd better be glad there was only twin-in-name joining, and not twins like Fred and George Weasley, or Ivan and Aiden from their time. It would be _much_ louder in Hogwarts if there were. As it was, she was a little pensive on what Sirius was going to do to Jason. She didn't want to find out Sirius had turned Jason into a pranking, joking, Leo-clone.

"_You don't have to worry about Jason Grace," _the hat said soothingly. _"He's one of the most mature children of his age that I've met. Yes, even more mature than Dumbledore, although when Albus was young he wasn't exactly mature." _

"_Yeah,"_ Piper said heavily. _"So, Gryffindor, please?" _

"_What, are you opposed to Hufflepuff?" _

"_Do I even have to answer that question?" _

"_Very well. I have been warning the others, giving them bits of information that best fit them, and I think you can handle this one the best out of all of them. I ask you not to tell the other, though. It wouldn't do good for their mental health." _

"_What is it?" _Piper asked with a state of dreading.

"_I sorted two boys by the names of Nico and Hadrian Riddle nearly fifteen hundred years ago. However, those weren't their real names." _The hat said gravely. _"Their real names were hidden under years and years of suffering and pain, so deep that even I couldn't get it out. They reminded me of the Revelden boys that Nico di Angelo is worried about. His half-brothers." _

Piper swallowed. Two boys, with names like Nico and Hadrian Riddle, who were like Ivan and Aiden? There was only one problem, though. "_They were tortured?" _

"_Time travel can do that to a person," _the hat said.

"_Are you sure it was them?" _Piper asked.

"_I'm not sure at all. But it is an interesting coincidence, is it not?" _

Piper couldn't reply to that. She hoped it wasn't them, but what were the odds of twin boys with the names Nico and Hadrian Riddle showing up at Hogwarts? _"How were they so young?"_ she finally asked.

"_Hogwarts had different age requirements back then. Anyone could come to Hogwarts to learn magic." _

"_Oh." _

"_I believe it's time I sorted you. This is rapidly turning into the longest sorting in history." _The hat sighed in impatience. _"Hmm . . . there is a lot of bravery here. A lot of bravery . . . there is loyalty, but not to a fault, and intelligence, but not a Ravenclaw type. I think I know . . ._ GRYFFINDOR!"

Piper pulled the hat off with relief and joined Jason at the Gryffindor table, taking his hand under the table. They had decided it was just too weird to kiss an eleven year old, even if they knew it was them under the skin. They agreed to stick to holding hands until they were a few years older hoped the potion wore off or something. It could – after all, it was brewed for a mortal wizard, not a demigod.

"Hi! I'm Than Weasley!" A bright-eyed boy that looked even more hyper than Leo beamed across the table from her.

_Uh oh._

"Riddle, Tom!"

Tom broke out of the much-smaller line and sat on the stool with his heart in his mouth. Slytherin or Gryffindor? What about Ravenclaw? He'd kill the hat if it threw him in Hufflepuff. Why couldn't they have a Slytherdor, for the brave _and_ cunning? Or Ravytherdor? Smart, cunning, and brave. Except he could barely even _pronounce_ Ravytherdor. He could talk to snakes, he was a good liar, he could slither his way out of any situation.

Slytherin hands down, right? _But what if . . . _

"_You are one of the least decisive people I have ever met." _The hat said. It filed through his memories, looking over everything that had ever happened in Tom's life. _"You're a dark one. But what's this? Gaunt? I'm afraid there's only one place for a Gaunt,__but look here! Another one! The gods really are testing fate and balance." _

"_Gods? Gaunt? Dark one?"_ Tom echoed blankly.

"_If there were a Slytherdor, I'd definitely put you in it, but I think the house for is, _SLYTHERIN!"

Tom swallowed reflexively and pulled the hat off. He glanced back at the others, and at Sirius and Jason in Gryffindor, feeling a pang of longing. He had heard that Slytherin and Gryffindor had a major rivalry. Perhaps they wouldn't want to be around him now that he was a Slytherin. He tried not to think about it as he made his way down to the green and silver Slytherin table.

He inspected his newly colored tie, thinking that at least silver and green were nice colors. Nico, Albus and Severus sat on either side of him, and a Abraxas Malfoy, who had been sorted into Slytherin, sat across from him. Tom frowned at Abraxas, finding an uncanning resemblance between him and Draco. Were they, somehow, related? There was no denying the resemblance. They both had white-blonde hair, gray eyes, and pale skin. Their heights and physique were the same. It was almost creepy.

Albus smiled at Tom, which cheered him up a little. "Don't worry. The Slytherin kids aren't that bad."

Severus muttered, "if you can get over the 'kid' part of that sentence."

"Now, Severus," Albus said serenely. "Let's not be hasty to judge others, shall we?"

Tom shook his head, not too surprised that Albus sounded like an old man chastising a life-long friend.

He looked up as "Saures, Allan" was called to the hat. The slim redheaded boy sat down on the stool and waited for several seconds. He noticed a small frown form on Allan's face, before the hat bellowed, "SLYTHERIN!"

Tom noted mentally that Nico and Severus seemed surprised, but Allan didn't. Allan sat at the table with them, next to Abraxas on the opposite side of the table. He gave them a wry half-smile and cringed slightly as Abraxas started to talk his ear off about Hogwarts and its history. Who would have thought the quiet Malfoy was a know-it-all?

"Sparrow, Eris!"

Tom looked up in surprise. Katelle sat on the stool obediently for the first – and Tom was sure it would be the last – time ever. Her name was Eris? Then why did she always introduce herself as Katelle? Maybe she was lying about her name as well. Or perhaps she just –

"SLYTHERIN!"

_What the heck? No way! I am so dead!_ Tom thought incredulously. He was sure the overly aggressive girl would end up killing him sooner or later. He leaned more on the former.

Katelle huffed and pulled the hat off, slamming it down on the stool with an angry scowl. She stalked down the Slytherin table, aiming glares at whoever was brave enough to meet her eyes. Without thinking, Tom shoved Albus over to make room for the moody girl. Katelle accepted the offering as if she was a goddess and it was a sacrifice and sat down with a very unlady-like thud.

Tom was sort of afraid she bite his head off for asking, but he dared it. "Is your name Eris or Katelle?"

Her scowl deepened. "Eris Katelle Sparrow is my birth name. If you call me Eris I will live up to the name make you mince meat."

_Live up to the name?_ Eris . . . it sounded somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite – oh! "Eris was the goddess of discord and strife, wasn't she?"

"Bingo!" Katelle replied, eying the feast like a hungry predator.

_Bingo? What is that?_

"What is Bingo?" Tom asked. When she opened her mouth, he cut her off with, "you know what? Never mind. I do not want to know."

Katelle snorted and reached for some of the food.

"You have to wait until after the beginning of the year speech," an older boy said.

Katelle rolled her eyes, pulling her hand away from the platter of apples. Then she pulled something shiny and silver from her boot and an apple from the side pocket of her pack and cut off a chuck. She popped the chunk in her mouth and grinned wolfishly. "Let that stop me from doing whatever the bloody hell I want to."

A girl who looked to be third or fourth year wrinkled her nose at Katelle's behavior. "You should never curse. Are you supposed to be a lady? Because all I see is a wild animal."

Katelle let out a harsh laugh. Somehow she made peeling an apple look threatening. "You haven't met the animals yet, Lady Luck." She bit into another piece of the apple. "I' ma's me loo' tame."

The girl huffed and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "My uncle deals with dragons and I've seen them before. I know _all_ about wild animals."

Katelle swallowed the bite, and a smirk twisted her lips. "Trust me. You haven't met wild animals until you've slept in a jungle full of them. Come back and talk to me after you've camped out with no food, no water, and no way of getting home."

"And you're telling me you have?" The girl snarled.

_I sense a Kat-fight,_ Tom thought with amusement.

Meanwhile "Valdez, Leo" had been sorted into Ravenclaw.

Katelle sighed, "if only prissy little girls like you could go through basic training. You'd see what a real fight is, that's for sure."

"Basic training?" Tom blurted out.

Katelle waved it away. "Inside joke."

Funny enough? He didn't even want to know.

"Weasley, Ron", was sorted into Gryffindor.

Tom was beginning to think all of the new orphan kids were either Gryffindor, or Ravenclaw. That was, until Frank went up and was sorted into Hufflepuff with Hazel. He looked down at his Slytherin tie and badge again with a sort of daze. The only new student that didn't seem fazed by anything was Katelle, who was still arguing back and forth with the fourth year girl. Allan was being . . . Allan. He was doing anything but sitting there and staring at his plate.

"I bet you've never faced real hardship," the fourth year said arrogantly.

"Uh huh," Katelle said. "So, do you have a name? I want to remember what click to avoid."

"Inanni Dolohov." The girl said proudly. "Pureblood."

"Inanni," Katelle mused. "I believe that's a Babylonian goddess? Psycho one, at that. You can call me Sparrow, so there."

"I notice you didn't say what your blood status," Inanni said. "You must be a dirty _mudblood_."

Katelle grinned, but it didn't reach her eyes. "As dirty as they come."

What was with that insanity? Tom found himself leaning away from her a little nervously. He really, really hoped she didn't somehow find out he got in her stuff.

He might end up on the 'missing persons' list.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, it's been hard to write lately. **

**First, ISIS is beheading people. Then there's an Ebola outbreak in Africa. _Then_ Obama makes it easier for people from Africa to get into America. Now there's a man with Ebola in America, who has been in contact with over 100 people, including four school children. This man landed in Virginia first, before going to Texas, and Virginia is _way_ too close to home for comfort. The family members are under quaratine, but they're showing restlessness and are protesting it, as if the lives of ever single person in America doesn't matter.**

**Do you guys know what Ebola is? Just curious, because it's not a good way to go, with a 90% mortality rate. 9 out of ten people die. I'm just super stressed about this and needed to talk about it. It's like all of my creative juices have dried up.**

**On a nicer subject, I got my hair dyed! I was so surprised - it looks just like Malfoy's color. Wasn't expecting it to be so pale, lol! I love it, though. **

**I'm going to try to update sooner next time, but don't hold me up to it. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six **

**When in Doubt, Prank Someone**

Nico woke to the sounds of snoring. For a moment he tensed, wondering where he was, before everything came back to him. Orphanage. Youth potion. Hogwarts. Tartarus. He dragged a hand over his eyes and looked around, his sight naturally enhanced in the darkness – a useful talent when you're sleeping in the dungeons.

Abraxas and Allan were in the beds on either side of him, and there were two other first year Slytherin boys in the beds nearest to the end of the dorm and nearest to the door to the dorm. He didn't know their names, only that they snored a lot and it irritated him. Abraxas slept like the dead, his mouth gaping open and his arm hanging over the side of the bad. His covers were twisted around his body and half-lay on the floor, making Nico wonder if he had gotten into a fight with his blankets and lost.

Those deadly blankets.

Allan was as blank in sleep as he was awake. His face was still, nothing showing. Not even a flicker of negative emotion from a bad dream. The last three were sights he had never hoped to see. Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, and Tom Riddle crashed on beds, looking ready for the Grim Reaper to take their souls to the Underworld. Translation to English? They slept even messier than Abraxas. Nico never would have thought the Dark Lord slept like someone from the Fields of Punishment.

Suddenly Tom sat up with a gasp, fumbling around in the dark before falling off his bed with a loud thud and banging up his elbow on the way down. He let out several creative words – all in ancient Greek, although Nico didn't think Tom knew that himself – and pushed his covers back on the bed. "Bloody nightmares and bloody monsters," he grumbled.

"Bad dream?" Nico asked.

Tom jumped at least a foot off the ground. "Uh, yes. Something like that."

"Sometimes dreams are important." Nico said, risking it a little. Tom was showing more and more inclinations of being a demigod. "They can tell us things."

Tom shook his head and sat on his bed, looking at his yew wand in his hands. "You people are so odd." He paused a few moments, before adding, "I hope this dream isn't telling me anything but I have a vivid imagination."

Nico shrugged. "Like I said, dreams are important. Sometimes they aren't your imagination."

"What do you know about Katelle?" Tom blurted, and then cringed as if he hadn't meant to say anything.

"She's violent," Nico muttered, "I really don't know much about her."

"Do you . . ." Tom swallowed and rubbed his hands on his blankets. "Do you know what's in her pack?"

"Notes, books, and some other stuff as far as I know." Nico said.

"If I tell you something, will you not tell anyone else?" Tom asked.

_Alert, alert, learning the dark lord's secrets._

"Uh, sure?"

"I looked in her pack," Tom shot out, as if he had been waiting to tell someone. "She had weird stuff in there, like a gun, but much more complicated, and these colorful pictures . . ."

_Great,_ Nico thought glumly. _Now _I _have to explain why Katelle had 21__st__ century technology in her backpack._

"Well?" Tom pressed. "I'm not making this up!"

"Uh," Nico scrambled for an answer. "She's a very good, um . . . painter! She's a good painter." _How did I get myself in Slytherin?_

Tom looked doubtful. "There were now brush strokes. And why would she paint a picture of a . . . a dead person?"

Nico blinked in surprise. "Dead person?"

"Yeah." Tom muttered, still examining his wand. "All over the place."

"That sounds . . . disturbing." Nico said, grimacing.

"Do you think she killed someone?" Tom asked in a rush.

"No," Nico said. It was true, there was no aura of death around her. He could sense things like that. "That doesn't meant she hasn't dead people, though."

_What am I saying?_ Nico thought. _With a personality like that, she's probably seen some pretty mess-up stuff._

Tom opened his mouth to speak, but the door to the dormitory banged open, flooding the room with light. Several half-awake boys moaned in protests, curling up under their covers desperately. The person who opened the door looked rather triumphant, and certainly not as tired as he had seemed the night before. It looked like a good night's sleep did wonders for sons of Hermes.

"Get up!" Theon said cheerfully. "We have a few things planned for the first day of school."

Nico groaned and pulled himself to his feet.

"And before you ask," Theon said, opening the door wider so the light covered even the kid in the back of the dorm, "no, you can't have five more minutes."

Five minutes later of Theon banging on the door saw Nico, Tom, Allan, Albus and Severus in the Slytherin dorms, fully awake and in rotten moods. Albus was the only one who seemed somewhat cheerful, with his fuzzy green bunny slippers and bright blue shirt under his Hogwarts robes. No amount of begging and pleading from Theon had stopped he former Headmaster from wearing at least _one_ article of clothes that was flamboyant.

"So why are we up at," Nico consulted his wrist watch quickly, "five thirty?"

Theon rolled his eyes. "Come on. We have _ages_ to rig everything! I've had a lot of time to think of good pranks, and I have the perfect one for breakfast."

Tom spun his wand between his fingers, before dropping it. He swooped down and picked it up, looking flustered. Looks like he wasn't born with the ability of twirling things in his fingers. "As long as we don't get caught."

"If we're going to prank," Nico said, "we'd might as well establish that we're prankers on the first day of school."

Theon clapped his hands excitedly. "That's the spirit! So how much of your charm books have you read?"

Nico sat at the Slytherin table, Tom and Severus on either side of him. The former was struggling to keep a straight face and later was doing it perfectly. In fact, his _I-am-not-pulling-a-prank_ face was so good, he looked like he sneering. Of course, he might have actually been sneering, because he was surrounded by brats under the age of thirty. Nico was beginning to wonder if he was allergic to kids.

"Bloody pansy of girls." Katelle threw herself down in a seat on the Slytherin table and began piling her plate with food. "They barely slept. A load of chickens, they are."

_She had a picture of a dead person,_ Tom's voice rang in his head. "So . . . you've never really talked about your parents. Or your mother at least."

Katelle glared at him, her blue eyes narrowed. "My mother's name was Lynx. Lynx Sparrow. It's kind of a tradition to name the first born after an animal."

Nico waited for her to go, but she didn't. "How'd she . . . you know."

"Predator attack." Katelle replied swiftly, stabbing her fork into a piece of sausage. "She got careless around the animals, and one of them attacked her. I was only nine at the time, but I've been on my own since then."

"You said Kronos tried to possess you, but you were alone since you were nine?" Nico asked. He was probably being rude, asking about her past to brazenly, but when it turned out someone had dead people in their pocket, then questions are natural.

Katelle rolled her eyes. "Well he found me, duh. Took him awhile, though."

Albus suddenly joined them, sitting besides Katelle. "Is it ready?"

Nico gave him a thumbs up.

"What's happen –" Katelle was cut off by a shout.

The banners, which previously showed a lion, a snake, a raven and a badger, now showed a worm, a chicken, a strange, blubbery looking blob with puff balls sticking from its sides, and an even bigger lion. The worm squirmed around helplessly, while the blob – which looked a lot like a blobfish that got into cotton balls – made noises that sounded remarkably like, "what _am_ I?" The chicken squawked comically, flapping its wings and sending feathers flying all over in the tapestry.

Katelle coughed, covering her mouth. He was sure she was laughing. "Oh. That's what."

Tom snickered, pointing at the Hufflepuff banner. "A . . . a whatever that is."

"How do you like it?!"

Nico and Katelle jumped, and Tom nearly fell off his seat. Theon appeared between them with a huge grin on his face. "Well? Did you like it?"

"How did you do that?" Tom asked incredulously.

Theon tossed one of the apples from a platter in the air and snatched it with inhuman speed. "It's a gift."

"That I want to learn," Tom muttered under his breath.

"Have you seen the charms teacher?" Theon suddenly asked. "What a creep!"

Tom moaned and set his head on the table. Nico frowned. "What's wrong?"

"He talks weird like you people, too!"

"I don't talk weird!" Theon exclaimed. "Do I talk weird? I never really thought about it. I wonder -"

"Wow!" Nico held up his hands. "Calm down."

Meanwhile, Nico noticed Katelle loading a piece of food on her fork and positioning the utensil like a catapult in her fingers. She squinted her eyes in concentration, and then let the fork go. The food flew through the air and landed on Inanni Dolohov's head, immediately tangling in her hair. Katelle dropped the fork and focused on her plate, her mouth twitching with suppressed humor.

Inanni let out a shriek and batted the food from her hair. She grimaced at the offending piece of food, and then glared at Katelle. "Sparrow! I know it was you!"

"_Captain,_" Katelle and Theon corrected at the same time.

"Captain Jack Sparrow," Katelle gloated, holding up her fork again to fire away another load.

"Don't you dare!" Inanni yelled shrilly.

Katelle let the food fly.

"Rosier!" Inanni shrieked, glaring at a boy across the table with a Prefect badge.

Rosier looked at them with little interest. "Stop whatever your doing."

Katelle loaded and fired another food cannon.

"Five points from Slytherin," Rosier said boredly.

"Boo-hoo," Katelle grumbled, and catapulted more food at Inanni. "So, what is so creepy about the charms professor?"

Theon shook his head. "I don't know. There's something off about him. I've gotten really good at telling when there's something dangerous nearby, and the charms professor sets off all of my spidey senses."

"Are you sure it's not just him?" Nico asked. "I mean," he glanced at Severus, "no offense, but Snape was always pretty creepy."

"Offense taken," Severus grumbled.

"No," Tom said suddenly. "I understand what Theon means. I get the feeling around the charms professor – he pulled me aside earlier, asking me about my parents – that I get around the monsters."

"Monsters?" Katelle perked up. "Where?"

"Go back to throwing food," Severus said snidely.

She made a face at him, and threw a roll at him. He sneered, but doused her in his pumpkin juice. She gasped in surprise, and retaliated with throwing her cup of water at him. Unfortunately, Severus ducked, so the cup sailed over his head and soaked a third year boy. The beefy boy turned around, glaring at her. Katelle grinned, which made her look part shark, and offered, "food fight?"

The boy responded by throwing his plate of food at her.

Fairly soon the Slytherin table dissolved into chaos. There was rolls, brisket, fruits and vegetables, drinks and other foods being hurtled. Professors yelled at them to stop, but it didn't seem to have much of an affect. Nico wasn't sure how it happened, but sooner than later the other tables joined in the food fight. So much for people in the '30s being classy and dignified.

Nico took the distraction to pull Albus, Severus, Percy and Harry aside. Katelle didn't seem to care about what they were doing as long as she had someone to hit over the head with food.

"What have you guys got so far?" Nico asked.

"No one seems suspicious so far," Percy said. "But Theon was insisting that there was something off with the charms professor . . . forgot his name. It was like Yoshi Ronin or something."

"Anosi Yohanin." Harry said. He pronounced the name like, Ahn-ozy Yo-hah-nin. "I don't know. He seemed pretty average to me. Maybe Theon's still jumpy from his experiences time traveling?"

"That's probably it," Katelle appeared next to them. She had an egg tangled in her short blonde hair, which looked quite disgusting. "Time travel can mess with your head."

"I don't feel messed up in my head," Percy said, frowning.

Nico, Severus, Katelle and Harry looked at him silently for a few seconds. Percy flung his arms in the air. "Okay, maybe you people think I'm nuts, but I'm not. Really."

"Lemon drop?" Albus asked, holding out a candy for them to eat.

Nico didn't know why, but it was so hilarious he started laughing. Percy and Harry joined in, while Severus rolled his eyes and Katelle smirked behind her hand.

When the professors finally got the students under control, and took away as many points as they could, even though classes hadn't even started yet. After they settled back down in their respective houses, Professor Dippet walked up the podium – which now had a soapbox under it, thanks to Theon. No one asked how he did it. Dippet seemed amused by it, though the charms professor had wrinkled his nose at it. Theon was probably sensing Professor Yohanin's lack of humor when he thought there was something off about him.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, new students!" Dippet announced. "And welcome back, to our older students. I hope this new year will go as smoothly as the last few have."

Over and the Gryffindor table, Nico could see Ron and Percy elbowing Harry, and Hermione shaking her head with a slight smile.

"I am pleased to introduce you to your new charms professor," Dippet motioned to the Asian-looking man, "Anosi Yohanin."

Tom snickered to Nico's right. "A nosy you hand in."

Katelle let out a short laugh. "I don't know how you came up with that so fast."

"I was sorted into Slytherin for a reason," Tom said with a smirk.

"Slytherin is the house of cunning and ambition," Allan said, ever the damper. "Not humor and wit."

"Allan?" Katelle said curtly.

"Katelle?"

"Shut up."

"Kallan," Theon popped beside them. "I totally ship it."

"Go back to your table!" Nico yelped a few octaves higher than he meant. He lowered his voice and hissed – not in parseltongue, duh – "and stop with the fast thing! You're going to attract attention."

Theon kicked his feet on the Slytherin table and grinned. "Do I seem to care about attention?"

"Theon," Nico growled.

"Okay, okay!" The first-should-be-second year darted – literally – to his table.

On the other side of the Great Hall, Harry and Percy jumped as Theon appeared between them, grinning impishly.

Nico shook his head. "That kid's going to kill me one of these days."

"Coming from the son of Hades?" Katelle said through the side of her mouth. "That's pretty sad."

" . . . and remind the children that the Forbidden Forest is off limits." Dippet said. "We don't want anymore incidents of children being mauled!"

He said it so jovially that Nico could almost get over the fact he was talking about children being mauled. Almost. He looked around at the other students, who didn't seem surprised by what Dippet said. He poked a second year who looked like he might talk under the pressure of Nico's Stare of Death. "What happened with the mauling?"

The second year shrugged. "It happened in my first year. Students who went into the Forbidden Forest came out," he gulped nervously, "either in shock, traumatized, or . . . or weren't found alive."

"How were they found?" Katelle asked, overhearing the boy's proclamation.

"Some were never found," the boy said. "Others . . . it was like they were shredded by a cat. A very big one. Look, I don't want to talk about it."

"That's fine," Katelle said. "We're new, and we just wanted to know."

"If you want to know more, you should ask Inanni," the boy said. "She was one of the survivors."

Katelle froze, and turned predator eyes on Inanni. She leaned back, pressing her palms on the edge of her seat. "So, the prim Slytherin queen has seen death and survived. That's surprising."

When Nico was sure the boy wasn't listening to them, he asked Katelle, "what do you think about that?"

She pursed her lips, examining her silver knife. "I think it means we need to keep our guards up. It means there's an unstable section of time and dimension somewhere in the Forbidden Forest, and that monsters came through last year, killing a few students and injuring more."

"A giant cat?" Nico asked. "Nemean lion?"

Katelle shook her head, slipping her knife back in her book. "It could be anything, from a Saber Toothed Tiger to a mythological monster. There's no way to tell." She paused, glaring at Inanni and muttered, "unless . . ."

"Unless what?" Nico asked impatiently.

"The Dolohovs were known for extensive knowledge on Unforgivable Curses, yes?" She asked, still watching Inanni.

"I think so? You'd have to ask Dumble – Albus if he knows," he twisted around so he could watch her face fully. "What are you thinking?"

Katelle rested her elbows on the table. She looked a lot like a _velociraptor_, about to surge for the kill. "I think we might have someone who knows something about the incursion monster."

"Incursion?" Nico mumbled under his breath. "What in the name of the Styx does that mean?"

"'An invasion or attack, especially a sudden or brief one'," Katelle quoted the dictionary definition from memory. "A fitting word for the situation."

Severus managed to extract himself from an excruciatingly painful conversation about clothes with Albus and Abraxas, and leaned over to them to ask, "what is the situation _now_?"

"We found out that there has been incursions," Nico said. He liked the sound of the word 'incursion'. It made him sound smart.

"What is the incursion?" Severus asked, blowing a strand of black hair from his eyes.

At least, he felt smart until he found out the person he was talking to already knew what the word meant. Nico tried not to glowered to much at the former Potions Master. Speaking of which, Nico couldn't wait to see Severus in the potions class. He was going to stun the whole class and take over before Slughorn could raise a bushy eyebrow. He might even be the youngest Potions Master ever.

"A monster," Katelle said. "Something that shreds."

Nico cringed. How could she say it so carelessly? He nudged her, "try to be a little more tactful."

"Tact isn't my forte," Katelle snapped.

_All over the place,_ Tom's voice echoed in his head again. Was he lying? He was the dark lord in making, so it wouldn't surprise Nico if he was lying.

"Classes are starting," Theon popped over again. "Not sure if you noticed."

Nico hadn't. Students had started to leave the Great Hall, heading down different halls. Katelle pulled out a wrinkled parchment, and her eyes lit up. "Well, we have Professor You Hand In."

"What way to start – you know what? I'm not going to finish that sentence." Nico stood up, and he noticed Katelle throwing a few extra apples in her pack. "What are you going to do? Eat apples all day?"

"Something like that."

After getting turned around so many times Nico lost count, and realizing that Tom's didactic memory wasn't completely infallible, the two boys finally made it to their Charms class. Since they were Slytherin, they had class with the Gryffindors, which meant new students (cough, Percy and Jason, cough) got lost with them as well. Nico had never been so glad to see a plain-looking wooden door with _Charms_ written on it in bold script.

They stumbled in, quickly finding seats and interrupting Professor Yohanin mid-lecture. The small Asian man frowned at them. "I see you have decided to join us."

"I'm sorry, Professor," Tom said smoothly. "We got turned around on the way here – faulty directions, I think."

Nico noticed Tom aim a glare at him, and he shrugged like, _what?_

Professor Yohanin curled his upper lip. "Five points from each of you."

Harry's face turned red in his seat in the back, and Nico was half-afraid that the short-tempered Gryffindor would jump out and demand justice from Professor Yohanin. Nico made it to his seat without being the cause of a war, and scanned the room. Katelle, cutting off chunks of apple with a wicked-looking serrated blade. No one noticed anything odd there. Percy clicking Riptide on and off sword form. Again, nothing strange to be seen there. Jason, occasionally zapping people. That's normal.

Theon, who was sitting at the desk to Nico's left, whispered, "watch this." He darted out to the Professor's chair, and then ran back, so fast no one even noticed him. He clamped his hand down on several papers that flew into the air from the wind currents of him running, fighting to keep his really, really bad poker face in tact. Half of Nico was tempted to tell him to just let it go and laugh away. The other part was tempted to nudge him with his wand to see if Theon actually exploded.

Professor Yohanin walked closer to his chair, and Theon's face lit up with excitement. Then the professor walked away again and Theon visibly deflated.

"You're so obvious you're going to give yourself away," Nico whispered.

"He needs to just – sit – down!" Theon hissed back.

"Is there something you wish to say, Mr Azule?" Professor Yohanin asked. "Or is this class not interesting enough for you?"

Nico cringed. Words couldn't express how much he _hated_ it when professors did that. Seriously? Did they have to be so loud and condemning? If only he could call a few skeletons, just a few really angry, bloodthirsty skeletons from Hades to spice Professor Yohanin's life up . . . it would be priceless to see. He noticed a small skull on the professor's desk. Possibility of a dead skull coming to life miraculously? Chances just went up 99.9 percent.

"Sorry, sir," Theon said, his mouth twitching around the words. "I was just wondering how you could walk back and forth so much without getting tired. I now I'd be dropping by now!"

Yohanin sneered. "Children just aren't what they used to be."

Theon's face stilled a little, and Nico could tell the son of Hermes' liking for Yohanin was rapidly dwindling. Theon grinned. "Yeah, well. We much more interesting things to do rather than till dirt. Like learn! So why do you go back to teaching us, yes? That's you job, I heard."

"I don't know," Katelle called from her seat. "I thought his job was being blatantly rude to students. Verbally abusive, even. Things like that could make you lose your job."

Nico caught on to what they were doing. "I'm sure he's not being rude, though. No need to complain to Headmaster Dippet about any of this."

"Certainly not," Tom snickered. "Although I heard abuse is something hard to spot, and needs to be immediately taken care of before the students are taken advantage of."

Professor Yohanin looked affronted. He scowled and went to sit in his chair and –

"YAHH!"

Theon made a strangled choking sound, snorting and clapping his hand over his mouth, shaking with suppressed laughter. Percy, Jason and Harry laughed openly, and Tom smirked appreciatively. Nico laughed at Yohanin's expression, the utter shock and humiliation. He sprang from the chair and landed half-way across the classroom, as far away from his chair as possible. Then a slice of an apple struck the back of his head. Nico looked at Katelle, who was scribbling on her parchment with her quill innocently.

"Who," the professor snarled, "did that?"

"No one," Theon forced out. His voice, trembling with laughter, was a dead giveaway.

"Yeah," Percy suddenly blurted. "It was nobody. Totally nobody's work. Seems like him to do that."

Katelle threw him a questioning glance, and he mouthed, _inside joke._

"Mr Azule, you're rather quiet for a chance." Yohanin said accusingly.

"Am I?" Theon asked. He coughed and blinked his eyes clear. "I didn't notice."

"If someone doesn't confess," Yohanin threatened, "then I will take away ten points per person in this room."

"There's not enough points in Slytherin and Gryffindor combined to do that yet," Katelle said distractedly.

Yohanin looked like he wanted to kill the first years, but he straightened his shirt and pulled out his wand. "Very well. Let us move on." Clearly he didn't want to move on. "The first spell we will go on is a simple sliding spell. _Yeprancedis_," he aimed his wand at a box, which slid across his desk. "Repeat after me, _yeprancedis._"

Theon had dissolved into a coughing fit. When he stopped he aimed his wand at the small pebble on his desk and said in a watery voice, "yeh prank-a dis." Nothing happened to the pebble, but Theon started to laugh again.

Nico felt his mouth twitched with amusement. "Are you okay?"

"Totally fine," Theon said. "It's just, of all spells, ye prank-a dis."

Tom leaned across his desk, "how did you charm the banners to do that thing with the animals?"

Theon spun his wand through his fingers. "I'm good at pranking things." He dropped his wand.

"But not good at doing wand tricks," Tom said with a slight smile.

"There's a trade-off in everything," Theon said importantly.

Ron bent over his desk from behind them and whispered, "you sound like Percy – my brother – when you do that."

Theon wrinkled his nose. "That's _not_ funny."

The rest of the class went by smoothly enough, except Yohanin had to eventually change the spell they practiced to _Wingardium Leviosa,_ because too many students were snickering as they said the spell. Nico found magic didn't agree with him, and he was afraid he might have lost his eyebrows when the pebble spontaneously combusted. Katelle seemed to find it amusing to say the spell, and then flick the rock into the air with her knife.

Percy somehow, Nico couldn't figure it out how for the life of him, made a jet of water flow from his wand when he tried to levitate his pebble. Suffice to say, no professor had ever been happier than Yohanin when the class was over, and the students left for their next class. As soon as Yohanin announced the class was over, Nico tossed his wand in his bag and jumped up to leave in one movement.

He walked down the halls by himself, lost in thought. He was still worried about what Tom said about Katelle. Mostly, he worried because he agreed with Tom. There was something off about her and her friend, Allan. Besides for the fact Allan showed literally no emotion, he had showed up out of no where, and had pretty much refused to explain how he got into 1938. Another thing was, who was Katelle's mother? She was very vague about her past. Perhaps she didn't want to get into it, but it only made Nico even more curious.

Nico thought his past was messed up. His mother had been killed by Zeus, and he and his sister were forced to drink from the Lethe. It didn't get more messed up than that, right? He wasn't so sure now. Being the son of Hades, he could sense death. It was one of his talents. He sensed death around Katelle, but not in the way he might sense murder. She had seen death, but hadn't caused it. He didn't think she had. Crazy as she was, she just didn't strike him as that kind of person.

He was so lost in thought, he didn't even notice when Tom and Severus caught up with him. Tom waved his hand in front of Nico's face, which broke him out of his train of thought. Tom raised an eyebrow. "Is there something on your mind?"

_No, you think?_ Nico thought irritably. Out load, he said, "I was thinking about pictures."

"I told Severus," Tom confessed. "You can say anything you've figured out."

Nico glared at the demigod-who-hadn't-been-claimed-yet. "You can't go around telling everyone that."

"I only told Severus." Tom said. "We can trust him."

"We can trust everyone," Nico insisted. "Even Katelle and Allan, even if they are a little strange."

"She had a –"

"I know, I know," Nico said impatiently. "I have an idea for that as well. I might sound rude, but I'd really want to see this picture before I go thinking she's a psycho."

"What's a psycho," Tom mumbled. He shook his head and said, "I don't want to go back in that bag. It's disturbing."

Severus pulled his cloak around his shoulders. "If you want us to believe you then you have to prove it to us, we will not, until then, assume that there is actually a photo of a dead person."

_Typical Snape,_ Nico thought. "We're not ganging up on you or anything, but we want to see this for ourselves. We can even distract Katelle for you."

"Did you hear what they said last night?" Tom asked. "There's protective spells over the girl's staircase!"

"You're always bragging about your immense intellect," Severus drawled. "And here is your chance to prove you are as intelligent as you say."

Tom teetered back and forth between saying yes and no, and finally blurted, "fine! Alright, I'll get the picture. I'll get her journal, too. She's got some interesting stuff in there."

"Deal," Nico said, holding out his hand, which Tom shook. Tom looked a little shaken after he shook Nico's hand. He didn't blame him, though. Hades was infamous for his impossible deals and swears that left people either dead, or in bad shape. Tom might not have known about he gods yet, but he definitely sensed that something was off about that 'deal'. Nico supposed that it was another talent of Hades: making unbreakable deals.

They survived through Transfiguration with a slightly looney Dumbledore (Nico was _sure_ Lemon drops didn't help magical talents, but Albus disagreed), and then went to the Great Hall for lunch. There wasn't as many students, since some of them were hanging around the library, or taking their lunch time to wander the grounds freely. Percy and Jason piled their plates full of food and dropped them on the Slytherin table with Nico, Tom, Severus and Albus. Katelle sat across from them and picked at her food, clearly uninterested.

Nico suddenly as if his own appetite had fled him. He had to _distract_ Katelle Sparrow. What had he been thinking when he made that deal? He must have a death wish, which was depressing considering who his dad was. He glanced at Tom, who looked a little green. That cheered him up a bit, although he had no idea why.

He muttered to Tom, "your up during dinner. I'll keep her busy."

Tom looked at his plate with something along the lines of depression. "I want 'He died trying valiantly' on my gravestone."

Nico gave a short laugh. "Okay. Just get the picture."

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so this is starting to feel a lot like a murder mystery to me. It's not! Sorry if there aren't as many pranks. There will be more in the future, but more centered with Sirius, Nico and Leo. And maybe Jason. Big stuff is coming up, my precious. Big stuff, little Hobbitses. Precious says so. Smeagol swears on the precious. Excuse my LotR fangirling for a second there. **

**Did I say somewhere in my previous story about Tom Riddle's ancestry (besides for Salazar Slytherin, duh, talking gods here)? Someone - sorry for my laziness, someone, take no offense please - said something about that. Where is it? I really hate it when there's inconsistancies. Did anyone notice that in the Mark of Athena, the evil consultant of Piper's dad was Jessica, but in the Lost Hero, her name was Jane? The name was changed! Or am I missing something?**

**I'm going to have absolutely no excuse not to update for a few days now. I spranged my knee cap (OUCH #U&amp;*#%*&amp;#!) and it hurts like heck. I tripped on my shoe laces, because they're about 5 FEET long, double knotted. I will find the designer of those shoes and sue them. Now I'm on crutches (I've been making non-stop jokes about Horcrutches now) and I really don't like them. So I get to sit a lot (crying) and do nothing. Expect more updates! Unless I hit a writer's block. **

**If there's anything that's bothering you, review it. I'm writing this for your entertainment as much as mine, so I'd like to fix anything (unless it's grammar. Please, no grammar nazis. Please. Save me from the grammar nazis! I'm way to hyper for 1 am) that's wrong. So yeah. Review! I live and breathe reviews. They're what gives me motivation! **

**So I promise on my Horcrutches if I get reviews I'll update faster. **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**The Story of ADAM and Loaded Guns**

Sirius glanced down at his wrist-watch (stolen, tried and true from their original time) and frowned. He figure they had about five minutes before the daughter of Kronos realized what they were doing and tried to kill them. Or maybe she'd torture them first. Hang them upside down from the ceiling and let the blood rush to their head. Or maybe she would tie them to a wall, facing another wall, and make them listen to commercial singing non-stop.

_Nation Wide is on your side!_

He shuddered. Now he was getting morbid.

Katelle, Nico and Theon were crouched at either side of him, each of them looking down into the room with their target. Their target, who, hopefully, was going to soon be leaving his office to teacher the higher level charms classes, giving them plenty of time to tamper with a few things. They were going to do some professional high-level "maintenance" on Professor Yohanin's office. They were sure the result would make almost everyone's lives significantly happier.

"Almost" being the key word there. Sirius had no doubt that if Yohanin ever found out did this to him, he would knock them out of this time into the next century. No pun intended, of course, although Sirius thought it would be a hilarious inside joke.

They were all on the rafters in the ceiling, watching Yohanin sign paperwork. What he had to read on the first day of school, none of them knew, but whatever it was seemed important, because a few times he would slam the desk and pace around his office. If only one of the papers said something so bad he had to go for a walk about the castle . . . So far, that didn't seem to be happening. All he did was throw a few things and stir up dust.

Stir up.

That reminded Sirius. The animagus potions needed to stirred if he didn't want them to combust into flames, or change them into weird combinations of animals, or poison them, or – well, it wouldn't be good for their health if something went wrong. He had taken Ivan and Aiden's notes for potions before they left for 1938, and for the life of him he couldn't figure out how two third year students managed to make such complicated potions.

Some of the stuff they had in their notes could kill a person if it was done even slightly wrong. Sirius might have been one to take risks, but even he wouldn't ever use one of the potions unless Snivellous – as annoying as the Potions Master was, he was good at what he did – made it himself. And if anyone ever told Severus that, Sirius would have to personally kill them. He might have been reduced to an eleven year old, but he did have his pride to think about.

The animagus potions needed to be redone because, since the others were born as animagus like him, they had lost the magic when they were de-aged.

"When's he going to just leave?" Sirius moaned in the smallest whisper.

"_Shh,_" Theon whispered back. "We don't want him to know we're here!"

"Duh," Katelle muttered.

"Oh shut up," Theon grumbled.

"You talked first." Katelle shot back.

Yohanin flung some paperwork down on his desk and pushed his chair back, standing up and starting towards the door. Katelle, Theon and Nico, who were really getting immersed in their whispered argument, didn't notice.

"Um, guys," Sirius said.

"I did not!" Theon insisted. "Sirius did!"

"Guys –"

"I didn't hear him say anything," Katelle said stubbornly.

"Hey, You Hand In is –"

"Well, he did." Theon snapped.

"I'm tal –"

"No he –"

"Would you all just _shut up_?" Nico interrupted Katelle and Sirius at the same time.

Sirius did his best to look like a pathetic puppy dog – something he did quite well – and pointed down at the office. "But, he left."

Theon finally noticed the office was deserted and gasped. "Here's our chance!"

Sirius awkwardly jumped down, nearly twisted his ankle, and grinned like he meant to do that. Nico simply dissolved into the shadows and reappeared on the ground. Theon darted to the office floor, sending papers and parchment flying into the air, and Katelle swung gracefully from the rafters and landed on her feet, and the tips of her fingers. She was as silent and lithe as the animal she was named after.

Sirius could definitely see her being the predator of his nightmares, tying him up and making him listen to singing commercials. Totally. He know understood the "transfixed by the eyes of the predator" saying. She had that look down-pat. He almost felt back for their enemies when she went for the kill. Although, he still couldn't wait to see her beat someone up. Like, say, oh he didn't know . . . Snivellous, perhaps? Just a suggestion.

There was a goblet of clear liquid, which did _not_ smell like water, on Yohanin's desk. It was bare and open to attack from wandering prankers, just asking to be targeted. Theon pulled out a vial of a pale purple potion and poured it into the drink. The potion swirled around the drink for a few seconds, turning rainbow and shining incandescently on the surface of the drink before matching the color of the drink. Clear as a crystal.

Sirius had to admire Theon's potion work.

"Now what?" Sirius asked in a hushed voice.

"Now we wait until dinner," Theon said with relish. "The potion has a delayed effect, so we can view it at dinner tonight."

"What does this do?" Nico asked.

Theon rubbed his hands together, grinning with fiendish that rivaled Katelle when she went in for the attack. "I guess you guys will find out at dinner."

"That's not fair!" Sirius whined.

"I really don't care if you thi –"

"Sh!" Katelle hissed sharply. She held up her hand, and crept toward the door of the office slowly. She rested her ear on the edge of the door, near the wall. She tensed, and then pulled away from the door abruptly, running for the back of the room. "Quick! He's coming back!"

She leapt on the wall – before that second, Sirius hadn't though it possible to use cracks in the walls as handholds – and swung herself back onto the rafters in one fluid motion. She knelt on the rafters, motioning for them to follow with her hands impatiently. She instructed them, "hook your fingers in the cracks, and push yourself back toward me as hard as you can."

Sirius jumped at the wall, scrabbled at the wall, but fell back roughly. Why hadn't they thought of an escape plan? He repeated his action, and this time his fingers caught the handholds. The stone wall cut into his fingers, but he managed to push himself back toward the rafters – or at least he hoped he did. A hand caught his upper arm and hauled him on the rafters, so he assumed he aimed right.

Nico shadow-traveled up, and Theon somehow ran up the wall and jumped on the rafters using his incredible speed. None of them asked how he did it.

The door open just as they situated themselves in the shadows, dust billowing around in the room, and a stray paper falling from the table. Professor Yohanin walked in, accompanied by a woman with dark brown hair pulled into a twisted bun like a bee's hive, blue eyes and pale skin. She wore light make up, and was dressed in mortal business attire: a dark blue blazer jacket, a white blouse, and a pin-striped skirt that matched her jacket.

Yohanin sat in his seat, glaring at the woman with acid that rivaled how he looked at the students, and took a deep swig from his goblet.

Theon pumped his fist with a silent cheer.

The woman pursed her lips and said curtly, "Inosi. You said you had the results here?"

"Ah, yes," Yohanin searched around his desk, but came up with nothing. "Well, it was here. Must have gotten mixed up in the transfer. Probably still at the Owl Tower."

The woman's face became very cold. "You told me you had it. You said it was here. I need the results."

"Calm down, Christine," Yohanin said with a patronizing smirk. "As I said, it was merely mixed up in the mailing process."

"I can't believe you trust those . . . owls," Sirius got the feeling she wanted to say something else, but had to stay professional. "You're asking for security issues. We wouldn't want to Minister to fear the procession of this operation, now would we?"

Sirius wasn't a politician, but he was fairly sure 'Christine' was threatening Yohanin. Said professor suddenly pulled something from his desk drawer. "Ah! Here we have it. Addressed to a Christine Willison, I believe."

"Give it to me." Christine Willison said sharply.

Yohanin had a slight smirk on his face as he turned the package in his hand toward her. Willison snatched from him, and turned her head, narrowing her eyes. "Be careful where you step, Yohanin. You might break the wrong thing."

Yohanin's smirk fell, replaced by a look of irritation. "You got the results. What else could Adam want?"

Katelle suddenly gave a sharp intake of breath. Sirius glanced at her, and she mouthed, _Adam __as in an__ acronym. A-D-A-M._

"ADAM wants the best research possible for the security of the U.K, of course," Willison said smoothly.

Meanwhile, Katelle looked slightly sick as she watched the procession below. She suddenly reached for her back, and then froze. "My bag," she breathed in the faintest whisper. "I need it."

"We can't leave now," Theon answered in the same tone.

Sirius felt a stab of panic, had they succeeded in distracting Katelle long enough? He didn't know what Tom was taking, but he knew that Nico did _not_ want Katelle to know. He supposed to anything with her stuff would be asking for pain and misery. Katelle was scanning the room to look for ways to escape without being caught. That was impossible, though. There was no way that even someone like Katelle could get out of the office without being spotted . . . Right?

Katelle pulled something from a pocket in the inside of her jacket, and flicked it. It snapped open quietly and locked into a crooked stick that looked a lot like the wands the Egyptian magicians had. It looked like a boomerang. Perhaps she would throw it, and it would knock both of the adults unconscious at the same time. Somehow Sirius thought that wouldn't work. He had never used a boomerang before, and he doubted if they could even return to thrower.

The determined daughter of Kronos edged farther along the rafters, closer and closer to the door. She raised the boomerang, and threw it swiftly. The boomerang sailed through the air, sweeping up papers and sending a few books falling off of Yohanin's desk. Willison and Yohanin both looked up at where the papers had been knocked over, which was in the opposite direction of the only exit. Sirius suddenly understood what Katelle was doing.

While Willison and Yohanin were distracted, Katelle dropped from the rafters and crouched behind a bookshelf, hidden in the shadows. The boomerang returned to her hand, and she quickly collapsed it, slipping it back into her leather jacket. Then she pulled out her silver knife, balanced a small pebble on it, and catapulted it into a pile of papers in the corner of the room. The papers plumed into the air as if something had ran through it.

Yohanin pulled a shiny black object from his robes, and slid his had over the top of it swiftly. It made a clicking sound, and Sirius realized what it was. Yohanin had a handgun, and didn't look like it belonged in the 1930's. If Katelle cared about his gun, she didn't show it. She threw open the door and dove out, rolling to break the fall and darted around a corner, out of sight. Sirius felt his mouth drop open in shock.

So that was how someone got out of a small room with one exit, and two adults watching vigilantly.

"Okay," Theon whispered with a soft laugh, "that was pretty cool."

Nico, on the other hand, looked ashen. "Oh gods. I hope Tom's out of the girl's dorm already."

"Tom's in the girls dorm?" Theon asked in surprise.

"How did he do it?" Sirius demanded. Priorities, Sirius had many of them.

"Don't ask." Nico muttered. "Just don't ask."

Tom looked up at the stairs of the girl's dormitories. His yew wand was in his hand, but for some reason that didn't give him much comfort. He had several things going through his head that made him hesitate at the bottom of the stairs. What was the protective enchantments around the girl's dormitories? What would happen if Nico and Severus failed to keep Katelle busy long enough for him to nab her pictures?

He didn't have a lot faith in Nico's plan. It wasn't that he doubted Nico's intelligence, it just that he . . . doubted Nico's intelligence. Fine, the truth was out.

He waved his wand, muttering a spell to scan for enchantments. He nearly gave up right then and there when he found the plethora of enchantments, incantations, and hexes of the girl's staircase. Luckily, most of them were in the stairs themselves. He figured that if he took more than three steps up, the stairs would turn into a slide and send him tumbling back into the common room. He knew for a fact he wouldn't be able to jump the rest of the way up.

Or at least, a normal wizard wouldn't be able to make the jump. Tom had discovered many years ago that he had a talent with wind currents. Once, he had been pushed out of the top window of the orphanage by a mean kid that was few years older than him. Tom had been sure he was going die, but time had seemed to slow down and he had settled to the ground without breaking one bone. The air had seemed to carry him on the way down.

Now he hoped that he could do it again. He had to get to top of the girl's staircase without dying, as opposed to falling without dying. There really wasn't much of a difference, now that he thought about it. Only that this time he had a girl who could kill him in a thousand ways on his tail. If he looked at it like that, then he was in an even tougher situation.

He took a few steps up the stairs, breathing deeply in an attempt to slow his heartbeat. Then he launched himself into the air, willing the currents to stir up and support him. It was as if the air turned into geyser pedestal for him to step on as he bound across the stairs. He landed at the top of the stairs safely, no bones broken or injured pride. That was always a good way to start a break and entry.

He slowly opened the door of the first year girl's dormitory, and was relieved to see that there were no girls actually in it. Katelle's bed was in the middle of the room, not too far from the door, but not too close either. Her bed, unlike the other girls', was unmade and tousled up as though she tossed and turned violently at night. Her backpack was under the bed, clearly visible. Tom supposed the other girls were too afraid of Katelle to paw through her stuff.

Or they were too smart. That didn't say much for Tom.

He pulled the backpack out from under her bed, dirt rubbing off on his hands. He should have just taken off right then and there with the picture. He should have ignored the temptation to look back inside the pack of secrets. Unfortunately, he didn't. Something about the letter, strange machines, and books lit a burning fire of irresistible curiosity in him.

He peered around the journals, books, and letters to look at the small device at the bottom of the pack. It had a glowing face, with a strange picture showing. There were wires coming from the small thing, ending with crooked . . . things, which had soft-looking padding. There was an 'R' on one, and an 'L' on the other. A tinny sound came from them, coming in and out quickly. The face of the device had a bar, which turned yellow slowly, as if it was a timer.

On a random hunch, he brought the small crooked pieces to his ears. Immediately he was accosted with banging sounds, something that vaguely sounded like a screeching guitar, and a chorus of voices. "_Hammerfall, we will prevail . . . Hammerfall, let us in."_ Was it music? It wasn't like any music he had ever heard before, but it still sounded down-right awesome. So awesome, he sort of forgot where he was until the song ended.

The next song was similar, with the repeated line of "nothing else matters". Before he knew it, he had listened to two or three songs, each of which made his heart rate spike. He really needed to find out what kind of music it was. It made him feel like he could take on an army of those creatures and come out alive and triumphant.

He bit his lip, and looked at the picture. The dead person jumped out at him like before, but somehow he managed to steel himself and look beyond that. It was a room filled with screens like the ones at the theaters, only it showed things in color, like the picture, and music device. There were corridors, doors, more halls, and – gasp – more doors. There was one cam in the corner that showed a laboratory, with operating tables in a circle like an arena.

There was writing at the top of the screens, but it was too small for him to make out clearly. In the other corner of the picture, there was double doors with the large bold words "ICE LABORATORIES" on it. Ice laboratories? Or was it ICE laboratories, like an acronym? He was more likely to believe the latter. He pocketed the picture, thinking that somehow it was a story. There was something behind it, as if it was puzzle or something.

He opened the journal and looked over the pictures and entries. There were dates, codes, drawings, and names. Among them was a "Inosi Yohanin", and "Christine Willison", who were mentioned quite frequently. Only, the picture under Inosi Yohanin looked nothing like their charms teacher. It was a man with thick dark hair, the same Asian features, but ice-cold blue eyes, rather than brown. Over his head was the label "CEO of ICE".

What was ICE?

He went to skip ahead to a marked page with "ICE" on the marker, but something cold touched the back of his head. He heard a clicking sound that sounded a lot like a gun being cocked, along with the sudden sense that someone was standing behind him.

"If you _don't_ want a bullet in your brain," Katelle said in a dangerously soft voice, "then I recommend you put everything back."

Tom dropped the journal into her backpack, along with the music device. _Pity that,_ he thought.

"_What_ are you doing?" Katelle asked sharply, snatching her pack from his outstretched hands and set her gun on the table. She quickly searched through the bag, and then aimed her predator stare at him. "What did you do with the picture?"

Slytherins were known for cunning. Slytherins were known for ambition as well. But they was also known for saving their skin. Tom pulled the photo from his pocket and gave it to her quickly. He mustered his courage and asked, "what is that?"

"It's a dead person in a surveillance room." Katelle replied in a flat voice that was almost as emotionless as Allan's.

"I can see that," Tom said, risking it. "But why do you have it?"

He didn't really expect her to answer truthfully. That why he was surprised when she said, "it's a puzzle."

"A puzzle?" Tom echoed.

"Yes. And it was given to me to figure out." She said quietly, then she continued in a snarl, "only I can't figure out the hidden picture!"

"What's ICE?" Tom asked.

"Not important," Katelle snapped. She sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the picture. Then she curled her lip and covered the bottom part with her studded-gloved hand. "This was given to me after . . ." Her voice trailed off, leaving Tom hanging.

"After what?" He blurted.

"After a friend died." Katelle said sadly. "They sent this to me. I thought it was them gloating over their most recent kill. I almost destroyed it, but then I noticed something off about it."

"What?" Tom asked. It was so, so rare to get her in a talkative mood.

"The times," Katelle murmured. "The times on the surveillance screens are all different. They were photoshopped into the picture for a reason. This is a riddle, but for the life of me I can't make head or tails of it."

Tom hesitated, and then asked tentatively, "is there a pattern to the numbers?"

"I don't think –" She cut herself off. "0150 . . . 1200 . . . 0100 . . . 1405 . . .0200 . . .1800 . . . nope. Not ringing any bells.

"It was worth a shot." Tom muttered.

Katelle pocketed the picture. "I've tried everything. I've studied the times, the sequence of the times, the pictures of the rooms, but I can't figure it out."

Suddenly a loud blaring noise came from her pack. She reached in a grabbed another device, much like the music one, only bigger. There was a map of the world on it, with a bright red dot over Scotland. She tapped the dot, and the map zoomed into a blue map out of the countryside of Scotland. There was a large red dot over a thick area of woods, pulsating with the alarm.

"Well that's not good." Katelle grumbled.

"What's bad?" Tom asked frantically.

"If that's where the next time rip is . . ." She scowled. "Close your ears, Tom Riddle. You can't hope to understand _any_ of this."

"Doesn't mean I can't try," Tom muttered.

"Well, stop." She stood up and went for the door, her pack slung over her shoulder. She stopped before leaving and snapped, "Riddle!"

"What?" Tom asked timidly.

"Get out of the girls dormitory for bloody sakes!" She said in exasperation.

In the common room, they found Nico, Theon, and to Tom's surprise, Sirius. Katelle didn't look surprised. "So you guys finally got away?"

"Got away?" Tom asked. If he got anymore confused, he would have a temper tantrum. He hadn't been so frustratingly in the dark since he was three and realized he couldn't teach himself how to read.

"Prank," Theon explained. "You'll see at dinner."

"Which is now," Sirius muttered. "And I'm starved."

Katelle glanced at Tom. "There's some explaining to be done. Like how Riddle here got past the wards on the girl's staircase."

As they walked down the corridors of the dungeons to the Great Hall, Tom, reluctantly, explained his little gift to them. He noticed Nico, Theon and Katelle exchange glances. They seemed to have a silent argument for a few seconds, with the winner being the one who could dish out the dirtiest looks. Suffice to say, Katelle won rather easily, even though Nico's death glare was slightly terrifying.

"I really didn't want to have "the Talk" right now," Nico grumbled. "Okay, so Tom. There's a lot about us we haven't told you."

"No kidding," Tom muttered.

"Well, the truth is, we're demigods. Half-blood sons and daughters of immortal gods and goddess from Olympus." Nico said it as if it were obvious. "Like, I'm the son of Hades. Katelle's the daughter of Kronos. Get it?"

Tom waited a few paces, and then started laughing. _Ten points to Nico,_ Nico thought absentmindedly.

"Are you insane?" Tom asked incredulously.

"No," Nico suddenly dissolved into shadows and reappeared far ahead of Tom. "I'm not."

Tom shook his head. "There is now way –" he let out a startled yell as the ground cracked open, and a skeleton crawled out, it jaw chattering open and close loosely.

"You believe me now?" Nico asked, glowering.

"Uh, I'm kind of contemplating it," Tom border-line whimpered.

"He believes you," Katelle deadpanned in translation.

The skeleton disappeared back into the crack, which sealed itself. Tom swallowed dryly and rubbed his hands on his trousers. "So, why – why are you telling this, again?"

"You're a demigod, we don't know who your dad is, and no, we're not insane." Theon said with a grin, answering Tom's questions before he could ask them. "Welcome to the party, Riddle, son of someone, from the place of somewhere. Oh, and my dad's Hermes. Thieves and such."

Tom subconsciously reached for his wand, which was still tucked safely in his robe pocket.

Theon noticed the move, no matter how subtle it was, and laughed. "Don't worry, I won't steal anything. I have more important things to think about."

Tom struggled to force words out, but he found himself rather mute. Finally he managed, "gods?"

"Yeah," Nico said with a faint smirk.

"Demigods, you?" Tom was still have mechanical difficulties with his vocal cords.

Nico rolled his eyes. "Definitely related to Percy."

"Wait!" Tom gasped, "you're all demigods? Like all of you?"

"Yes," Theon said slowly – or as slowly as he could manage – watching Tom. "We're all demigods. Did that somehow not cross your mind?"

"I – um." Tom decided to divert from further humiliation and asked, "so, who's my dad? I mean, assuming . . ."

"No clue." Sirius said with a bright smile. "I'm sure the crusty old god will claim you sometime, though."

"Sometime," Theon snorted.

"No kidding," Nico muttered.

"I don't get it." Tom ground out. "What so funny? And if you say "inside joke", I'll –"

"Inside joke," Sirius said.

Tom let out an irritated huff. He glared at Katelle, which was a brave move, "I suppose you're not going to tell me what ICE is?"

"Nope." She said, stowing her handgun away in her jacket right as another student walked around the corner. She smiled awkwardly and waved, the butt of her weapon sticking out slightly.

Tom scowled deeply and walked ahead of them to reach the Great Hall before they did. Most of the students were already at their tables, and he could see Percy and Jason jump as Theon suddenly appeared between them. Nico followed him to the Slytherin table, where Albus and Severus were preparing to dig into their dinner. Tom sat down to Severus's right, and Nico dropped down next to him.

They sat in silence for a few seconds, Tom's mind in turmoil. He could see Nico visibly trying to scrounge up a speech. Tom could tell the son of Hades had gone through a lot of hardship. He supposed if anyone was going to give him the realism of the whole "demigod" thing, Nico would. Nico had a look Tom had often seen in himself, a guarded expression, like he was afraid to open up to anyone. Tom had bad experiences with friendship, and he guessed Nico did as well.

"It's difficult to come to terms with," Nico finally said. "I know. Maybe you won't be a son of Hades, though. You could be a son of Hephaestus. You seem good with your hands."

Tom studied his fingers. He liked to build things, yes. But wasn't Hephaestus supposed to be big and burly? Tom was slight, with nimble fingers and had a hard time sticking with one project for too long. "What about Zeus?" He asked.

Nico frowned. "I don't know. You don't look much like Zeus, but I guess that doesn't matter."

"I could take after my mother." Tom suggested.

Nico cringed, remembering the picture of Merope Gaunt he'd seen. Tom definitely did not take after Merope. "I don't know. Hephaestus seems to fit. Leo's a son of Hephaestus."

Over on the Ravenclaw table, a helicopter made from wire, pipe cleaners, rubber bands and forks took off. It shot out mini torpedoes of food and yelled in a voice that sound suspiciously like Coach Hedge: "DEATH TO QUEEN DIRT FACE! HAHAHAHA! PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"

"You think I'm related to him?" Tom asked incredulously.

"I said you might be a son of Hephaestus," Nico amended. "I didn't say you're like Leo."

"Uh huh," Tom said, watching the helicopter fly around, avoiding Leo's attempts to catch it, totally rogue. "Lame retort."

Suddenly Theon appeared between him and Nico, with Sirius. Tom yelped and jumped away. Nico rolled his eyes. "Do you have to do that, Theon?"

Sirius looked a little quesy. "That was awesome."

Theon grinned. "You guys read? The potions is."

"What's it going to do?" Sirius asked.

"What potion?" Tom asked.

"Professor Yohanin!" Theon called innocently from his seat.

The Charms professor glared down at Theon from the Head Table. "Mr Azule. What are you doing on the Slytherin table?"

"Promoting house unity, of course!" Theon exclaimed. "Don't you think that's important?"

"Of course," Yohanin said smoothly. That's when the potion kicked in. Tom watched with morbid fascination as his nose grew longer on his face.

"And you agree that the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin is a real problem?" Theon asked, his eyes glinting with amusement.

"Yes, Mr Azule." Yohanin sprouted long, hairy ears.

Several students clapped their hands over their mouths to muffle their sudden laughter.

"Sir, do you really think Hogwarts is doing a good job of protecting the students?" Theon asked, his eyes starting to water.

"Yes, Mr Azule," Cue a long, fur covered snout. "Is there a reason for this cross examination?"

"I'm sure there is, professor," Theon choked out. "Just a few more questions won't bother you, right?"

"No," Yohanin ground out. His hands turned to hooves. His face was covered in fur, and he had two large bucked front teeth. His arms were covered in mahogany fur, and his neck had grown much, much longer and furrier.

"Sir, are you feeling o-odd?" Theon asked, tripping over the last word with his struggle against laughing.

"No, why?" Yohanin.

Leo burst into laughter. "He's a llama!"

Half of the Great Hall started laughing. A few first years looked nervous, and some of the Slytherins looked affronted, but the rest of the school was clearly happy to see him put in his place. Yohanin looked at his arms with alarm and tried to stand up, but he fell on all fours. Tom was fairly certain that if Yohanin still had human skin, he'd be quite red with fury.

"Azule!" Yohanin howled angrily. He got up, pulling his wand out. Tom was half afraid the professor would curse Theon in the middle of the Great Hall.

"Professor," Dumbledore said quickly.

Across the table from Tom, Albus sagged with relief. Tom hadn't even realized how tense the redhead was until he relaxed. Tom wasn't sure what to make of Albus. He was somewhat quiet and had an unhealthy – literally unhealthy – obsession with lemon drops. He always seemed to know everything before Tom could even think it. What transfiguration charm to turn your diary silver with green stripes? He knew it. What incantation to make your stuff untouchable to all but you? He probably knew something for that as well.

Katelle appeared next to Tom. Her face was stormy, which seemed to be her theme, but her current scowl really took the gold metal. She had changed into much different clothes than the Hogwarts requirement. She had tried to wear "feminine" trousers, but she'd abandoned them for cargo capris and combats boots, with her Hogwarts robes over them. He still didn't know where she managed to find those clothes. He knew they didn't sell them at any shop.

"We have a problem." Katelle said in a low voice.

Severus leaned over to speak, "and what, pray tell, is the problem _now_?"

She grabbed Sirius's and Theon's collars and hauled them up. "Follow me."

* * *

**A/N: Playtime is about to end! At least for a few of them . . . not saying anything else. I'm horrible with spoilers. Like with the Blood of Olympus? I've already accidentally tipped off a few things to my mom. She was so mad.**

**Yulissab02: Yeah, putting Leo in Ravenclaw was an odd decision. I wish I had read the Blood of Olympus before I wrote that out, but seemed the best. Leo is, above all, a brainiac. And I put him in Gryffindor last time so I decided to change a few things up. Plus the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff houses get ignored a lot, so i decided to give them a character that just can't be ignored. **

**I know putting Dumbledore in Slytherin was probably a bold move, but I couldn't see anything else. Dumbledore, while it was in the best intentions, really manipulated and tricked Harry a lot. He never just told Harry anything. He gave him cryptic clues and stuff. Not to mention he kept the horcrux thing secret for so long. And let Harry compete in the Tri-Wizard tournament just to know what Voldemort was up to. **

**Who has read the Blood of Olympus? If you haven't - read it now. It's the best book in the whole series. Not kidding. I loved it. I was constantly torn between laughing and crying the entire time. **

**I'll try to update pretty soon. I'm kind of busy with school, writing, physical fitness (yes, that takes a large amount of my day. I'm a exercise nerd), and painting. I'm working on cover art for the Rise of Magic and Correctional Travelers. I'm almost done with the former. **

**If you have any questions, or anything, review it! I love reviews. I've said that several times, but I just have to make sure it's written in stone. I like reviews. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**Attack of the Evil Wind Chimes**

"I went out into the woods to check out that blip on the ADD," Katelle explained as she, Tom, Severus, Sirius and Theon walked. "Another anomaly has opened up, right in the Forbidden Forest. I think that explains –"

"Whoa." Tom held up his hands. "Explain to me what an anomaly is and what an ADD is."

"ADD is attention –"

"No," Katelle sighed, "ADD means Anomaly Detection Device. It's an unfortunate acronym, but it stuck. The anomalies are temporal – meaning temporary – rips in time and dimension, allowing the past to coincide with the present. Make any sense?"

"Nope." Sirius and Theon said.

"I think so," Tom said slowly. "What you're saying is that if someone in the past was stuck in the past for year, a year would also go by in present."

"If the anomaly stayed open that long, yes." Katelle stopped at the top of the Great Stairs. "The problem is – there is no way to know when these anomalies open. If they open into the future . . ." she gave a humorless smile. "It's not good, to say the least."

"So, things come through them?" Tom said. "What kind of things?"

"Anything," Katelle said. "From dinosaurs to Predators. I only hope none of the students have had a run in with any of them yet."

However, that was when the doors of the Entrance Hall were thrown open, and several shrieks filled the place. Three students limped in, the boy in the middle being supported by the others. Even from where five-some stood at the top of the stairs, they could tell the student being supported was badly injured, not stricken with a simple twisted ankle.

Katelle swung straight over the edge of the great stairs, which made a few other people cry out in shock, and landed without injuring herself somehow. Theon and Sirius rushed down the stairs to see how badly injured the student – a boy – was. Behind them, Severus was pulling several vials of potions from his robes pockets – how much could he fit in there? – and was mixing them as he ran. Tom seemed torn between running after them, and going into the Great Hall.

They reached the three students, one of which was sobbing uncontrollably. The boy being supported seem only half-alive, which heavy gashes and abrasions up his stomach, neck and shoulders. Katelle stopped at the sobbing girl and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her quickly. "What happened? What did you see? What was it?"

The girl seemed stunned that Katelle would treat her so roughly – 1938, people – which snapped her out of her shock a little. "I – I don't know. It – it was big," she swallowed, nearly choking on another sob, "and fast. It took Than! We ran after them but these two boys told us to go back and we were so terrified and oh my lord it was a monster wasn't it!"

The girl talked faster and faster as her panic rate went up. Katelle pulled off her outer robes and draped it around the girl's shoulders. "Calm down. I'm going to ask again. What did you see?"

"It was large, and colorful," the girl sniveled.

Helpful.

Katelle nodded and gave the girl a friendly pat on her shoulder. "You're safe." Then she moved to the seventh year supporting the younger boy. "Are you more lucid than she is?"

Sirius shook his head. And just like that, Katelle Sparrow turned into Katlock Holmes. She asked the boy a few questions, but it turned out the monster had been to fast for them to see. So fast, they had only seem Than one moment, and then hadn't seen him the next. Sirius had thought Than Weasley was annoying, but that didn't mean he deserved to be dragged off by a killer monster and eaten.

Katelle finally stopped asking the seventh year questions and looked at the injured boy. Sirius rolled his eyes, "she doesn't think _he_ knows anything, does she?"

"Maybe she can scare some info out of him," Theon muttered back.

Katelle lifted the collar off the boy's shoulder, and grimaced. "Lacerations. There's bite-marks in a sharp U-curve on the base of the neck. An abrasion . . . Severus, come here."

Severus walked up with his potions, sneering at the other children. Sirius walked up behind them, his curiosity getting the better of him. Katelle listed off the wounds, which made Sirius's stomach get a little queasy. "Gashes on the side of his shoulders, there's rips in the trousers at his legs, and there's one large, diagonal slash down his abdomen."

Tom, who had finally decided to follow them, asked, "what does that mean?"

Katelle leaned back on her heels, wiping her hands off on her shirt. "I've seen stuff similar. We can talk about this somewhere else."

She guided them away, while Severus stayed behind and gave the three students calming potions, and for the injured one, a potion that prevented infection and quelled most kinds of venom. Theon leaned against the side of the stairs, and crossed his arms. "What is it?"

She glanced at Tom briefly, and then said, "raptor. It was definitely a raptor of some sort. The claw marks on the shoulders, bites on his neck, and especially the gash across his abdomen, was tell-tale."

"Uh, raptor?" Sirius asked. "What's that?"

She gave him an _are you stupid_ look, and explained briefly, "raptors are usually somewhat small, but deadly quick, intelligent, and have lots of sharp teeth and claws. They can vary in size depending on what kind of raptor they are."

"Oh, because I thought you were talking about the bird of prey raptor," Sirius laughed nervously. "Not the . . . monster of prey raptor."

"I'm glad I wasn't expecting something normal for a change," Theon sighed. "So now what?"

"If I'm right," Katelle said, "then we've got a pack of killers on Hogwarts grounds somewhere. We'll need to round up the others to look for them, but _do not_ kill any of them. Do you understand?"

"Okay?" Sirius said doubtfully. Katelle bounded up the stairs – after swinging herself on them half-way up, of course – and ran toward the Great Hall.

Sirius looked at Theon with misery. So, they had to hunt a pack of killer teeth and claws, which were fast and intelligent, could be anywhere, could be hungry, and could be angry. Oh, and they couldn't kill them for some reason. Life was looking downright _fun._ Sirius couldn't figure out if that was sarcasm or Siriusness.

He realized that was an oxymoron, since he was never serious about anything.

Percy was enjoying his pizza and listening to Annabeth chat about the architecture of the castle when Katelle ran the Great Hall. She looked around cautiously, wiping off stuff that look suspiciously like blood. She stopped at the Gryffindor table and said, "incursion. We need to scour the grounds. Now."

Jason made a _calm down _motion with his hands. "Why do we have to scour the grounds?"

"What's an incursion?" Percy asked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "It's a quick or sudden attack, or breakthrough in defenses."

"What's happening?" Piper asked, walking from the Hufflepuff table with Frank and Hazel.

"Follow me," Katelle said impatiently, whirling around without a further explanation.

"She really gives Snape a run for his money," Ron muttered.

The Seven and the Golden Trio followed her out of the Great Hall. Percy sadly bade good-bye to his pizza. He had a feeling he wouldn't be finishing it.

From the top of the stairs, Percy could see three students being treated by the Mediwitch of Hogwarts, and Severus. The Mediwitch didn't seem to question, or be bothered, by the fact that she was letting her patients drink potions given to them by an eleven year old Slytherin. In any case, the potions seemed to working miracles, which was no surprise, considering Severus was actually around forty years old.

Katelle flipped her silver knife in the air and caught it. She seemed tense. "We have a pack of raptors of some kind running around free on Hogwarts grounds."

Percy cringed. "I supposed you don't mean the bird of prey raptor?"

"Since when has our luck been that good?" Frank muttered.

"Raptors?" Leo asked, batting away some flames from his hand. "Like from _Jurassic Park?_ Cool!"

"Not cool," Annabeth corrected. "Imagine those things wandering around a _school._ A school filled with children, no less."

Leo paused and seemed the think about that. "Okay. I guess that's not so cool."

Piper swatted his arm, rolling her eyes. "Of course that's not cool, Leo!"

Jason felt at his waist, where his _gladius_ was kept. The Mist assured that the wizards didn't see the deadly golden blade that he walked around with all the time. "So, where do you assume they are?"

Katelle pursed her lips, flipping her knife again, deep in thought. "I'm not sure. Most raptors are wanderers. They don't really stick to one place for too long."

Hazel tapped on her _spatha_ impatiently. "So, is there any way we can find them?"

"We'll have to separate into groups," Katelle instructed. "No more or less than three. If you're in a group too large, they'll stay away because you're too big of a target. If you're too small, then you go from hunter to hunted."

"You seem to know a lot about this," Percy said. He had always wondered how Katelle knew so much about time travel, besides for the fact her dad was the lord of time.

"It's a long story," Katelle said.

Nico, Sirius, Theon and Tom appeared from the top of the stairs. Nico stopped by them. "So what's our plan?"

Katelle snorted. "Plan? There's no plan. You find the raptors, you _do not_ kill them, and we put them were they came from."

Tom frowned. "Since when were you for animal rights?"

"Exactly what I was thinking," Jason muttered.

Katelle slipped her knife in her boot. "Iris message if you find something."

Percy glanced at Tom, but Katelle waved it off. "He already knows about the gods."

He was tempted to ask how, but decided against it. Instead he asked, "so is everyone armed?"

Leo had his club, his tool belt, and his "epicness which would surely scare the raptors into submission. Piper had _Katoptris_, Jason had his _gladius_, and Nico had his Stygian Iron sword, _Tenebris._ Frank cheerfully informed them his shape-shifting skills hadn't failed him yet, which terrified the "dark lord" dignity out of Tom. It turned out he had a deadly fear mosquito hawks, which Percy found so hilarious he couldn't help but laugh.

Annabeth had her Celestial bronze knife, Percy didn't think she ever parted from it, even in sleep – not that he knew, of course! Hazel had her _spatha_, which she was proud to present to Tom, who could visibly be seen making a mental note not to tick Hazel off. Percy, of course, had Riptide. Nobody even asked about that. He hadn't separated from it for longer than twenty minutes – while he was at the Roman Senate meetings – in his life since he found out he was demigod.

Percy looked around, but he couldn't find Allan. That guy was so weird, it wasn't even funny anymore.

They ran down the stairs and slipped by the professors without being noticed, and stopped in the courtyard. The was setting in horizon, so the grounds were quickly turning a dull blue twilight color. Percy knew that sooner than later, it would dark and that would make their job a lot harder. Hunting monsters during the day was scary enough, but at night was just not fair. It was times like this that Percy wished he had Nico's night-vision eyes.

They quickly started to separate into groups, only Sirius kept trying to grab four people. Percy went with Annabeth and Tom, and Katelle told the others to "fight it out with whoever you want in your group" to everyone else. She grabbed Theon and Nico by their upper arms and marched off down toward the Forbidden Forest. Percy glanced at Annabeth, whose gray eyes were stormy with thought, and Tom, who looked a little terrified.

For some reason, Percy got the urge to make Tom feel a little less scared. He was, after all, only eleven years old. "Hey, it's okay." He said. "I'm sure they'll go after the bigger, more threatening kids in the groups. Not you, basically."

_They'll go after the bigger, more threatening Vikings,_ Gobber from How to Train Your Dragon echoed in Percy's head. _Great,_ he thought. _Now_ _I _know_my little pep talk__ didn't help __much__._

"Thanks," Tom muttered. "I feel ever so much better."

"What Percy means," Annabeth said as they walked towards the direction Hagrid's hut would be built in a few years, "is that they'll be more likely to attack the defensive, which is us, not you."

Tom scowled. "I'm not stupid. A predator always goes for the young, the sick, or the old of the pack. That would be me."

Percy shrugged noncommittally. "Well, to be honest, we're all pretty much the same size."

"Actually," Annabeth said with a smirk, "I'm a little taller than you."

Percy stopped in front of the Forbidden Forest. "Oh, be quiet, Wise –"

A snarling growl cut him off mid-nickname. It was followed by a cackling and popping noise, like a dolphin almost. Tom froze, his face draining of color. "Can I have a weapon?" He whimpered out.

"Do you know what these are?" Percy whispered, looking up at the trees as they rustled and bent as though something was jumping from branch to branch – something big.

"I have a good idea," Tom replied, backing up so he was partially behind Percy. "And we need more people. And those machine gun things."

A creature dropped from the trees. A small part of Percy's brain registered that Tom shouldn't know what a machine gun was, but most of his brainpower was focused on the monster. Then two more fell from the trees, their long arms carrying the across the ground, and claws digging gouges in the grass. Two more monsters lunged at the original creatures. These ones had brightly colored feathers sprouting from their back, head and lining their arms and tail.

"Those are the raptors," Annabeth whispered as they backed away. "Looks like we found the pack."

"What was easy," Percy muttered.

He just had to talk.

Just then a misty screen opened up in front of them. Hazel, Frank and Leo's faces appeared. "Hey, we found the pack. We're spreading the word."

Percy laughed nervously and whispered, "funny thing is? We found the pack, too."

Leo frowned. "There's more than one pack?"

"I think so –"

A scream cut him off mid-sentence. The raptors and the other creatures looked up toward the forest, where the scream came from. Then they took off at the same time, snapping and biting at each other in an attempt to get to whoever screamed first. The creatures, which vaguely resembled the MM monsters they fought in Deos-Natale, jumped into the trees while the raptors ran with lightening speed into the forest.

"We gotta go," Percy said, cutting his hand through the Iris message. He looked at Annabeth, who got his hidden message and nodded.

She pushed Tom in front of her. "I'll watch your back."

Tom still didn't seem very relieved, but he nodded. "Okay. If I die I'm coming back to haunt you."

"I totally could see it," Percy grumbled as they plunged into the forest.

It was much darker in the Forbidden Forest that what it looked like from the outside looking in. The huge trees rose up, higher than any tree Percy had ever seen before. The roots were tall enough for him to hide behind comfortably, and made good points for monsters to ambush them with. Percy was on edge the entire time, and the shrieks of the raptors and the monsters as they fought didn't help one little bit.

Tom stayed directly between Percy and Annabeth, jumping at any sound. Percy was beginning to think Tom had some kind of experience with the monsters, but wouldn't say anything but an ambiguous grunt that could be anything from "yes" to "no" to "blue pancakes". Okay, Percy doubted the last one, but he did know that Tom was keeping something to himself.

"So this probably isn't the best time," Tom said in a low voice as they crouched behind a tree root, waiting for the monsters to fight themselves out and lead them to whoever screamed. "But, do demigods get important dreams? Like how the heroes in the old stories and myths did?"

"Yeah," Annabeth replied. "We'll get dreams that basically can tell us things we didn't understand before, or give us key pointers in our quests. The gods also communicate with us in dreams."

"Dreams can also be sent to make our lives the embodiment of confusion," Percy mumbled.

"What if you have a dream of a place, or people you know? Only they seem . . . older?" Tom asked. "Hypothetically, I mean." He added quickly.

"Then you're hypothetically seeing something that's important." Annabeth said.

"What is ICE?" Tom asked. "It's an acronym, but I don't know what it is!"

"Never heard of it," Percy said honestly. "Incredibly Cunning Elephants?"

"Somehow I doubt that's it," Tom grumbled.

"Impossible Cutting Elves?"

"Uh, no?"

"Impersonating Cute Everything?"

"What?"

"Seaweed Brain!" Annabeth hissed in annoyance. "Come on! The monsters are moving."

Percy stood up. "We'll talk about the Industry of Cuddly Ears later."

Just as they were going to leave, another Iris Message appeared in front of them. Percy wheeled backward to keep himself from passing through the mist. Theon's nervous face filled the mist. "Uh, Katelle's busy. Long story. She wanted me to tell you that the plan has changed. Apparently we can kill the ones that are really hard to kill, but the feathery ones we still can't."

In the background, a flash of blonde and black blurred by, and slammed into to a tree with a yell of pain. A monster leapt on the body, but was impaled by a boomerang. Katelle shoved the body of the monster off of her and grabbed Theon's shoulder. "We gotta go. The monsters are all retreating to the Forbidden Forest, so I'm assuming they are going back through the anomaly."

A monster went flying behind her, and Nico chased after it with three skeletons. Percy tore his eyes from the boomerang in her hand, dripping with greenish-yellow blood. "So where is that?"

She shrugged. "Just follow the monsters."

"That's what we were doing," Annabeth said. "We have to go, before we lose them."

"Okay, great. See you there." It was as if they were discussing meeting for coffee at a shop, rather than a rendezvous point in the middle of a forest infested with monsters. She went to slice her boomerang through the mist, but stopped. "Oh, and make sure shrimp over there doesn't die? We're going to kind of need him."

With a flash of gooey boomerang, the Iris message disappeared. Behind Annabeth and Percy, Tom sighed. "I suppose she meant me when she said shrimp, didn't she?"

"Yeah. That seems to be your nickname." Percy said. "Shrimp."

"Stop it," Tom growled as they set off in the direction the raptors and the Predators went. It wasn't hard to tell, with the path of destruction and chaos they left in their wake from fighting.

"Shrimp." Percy said. Hey, he was eleven in the body. Might as well act the part for once.

"Don't!" Tom hissed. "I _hate_ shrimp!"

"Hey!" Percy protested. "That's my dad's turf, there."

"Then don't call me shrimp!" Tom snapped.

"You don't mind it when Katelle calls you shrimp." Percy pointed out with a smirk. He could see Annabeth rolling her eyes in front of them.

"That's – that's different." Tom insisted. "It's not like I can say no. She'd like break my arm or something."

"Shrimp."

Tom groaned and covered his ears. "I am going to kill all shrimp in the world. When I get out of Hogwarts, my life goal will be to exterminate _all_ seafood."

Percy braced his hand on a root and swung over it. "I like seafood, thank you very much. What are you going to say to the people who like seafood?"

"Too bloody bad." Tom tripped over a root. "That's it. Add roots onto my list of assassination."

Percy got a random image of Voldemort holding Nemo hostage and giving the fish the "cleansing the world of the dirty seafood" speech. A fish assassin? That's a sorry job.

They stumbled along, and Tom nearly had a coronary when a hand shot out and pulled him to the ground, covering his mouth so it muffled his rather girlish screech. Nico and Theon ambushed Percy and Annabeth, forcing them into kneels behind an outcropping of bushes lining a small opening in the forest. Percy spun around, and Theon shrugged. Annabeth was going for her dagger, but Katelle held out her hands.

"Don't freak out! Sheesh." She let go of Tom, who looked like he was trying not to have a panic attack. "You guys were about as stealthy as an elephant doing ballet in a room full of garbage dispensers."

Percy snorted, "And you thought _I_ had an interesting imagination."

"_Why_ did you do that?" Tom hissed furiously.

Katelle shrugged. "Your face was priceless, though. Oh, and I didn't want you to alert that whole pack of Predators and _utahraptor_ over there."

"Utahraptor?" Percy echoed.

"They exist," Annabeth said.

"Wait, wait!" Percy said. "Let me guess. They found in . . . what is Utah? Is that a 200 or 500 dollar question?"

"It was a smack upside the head question," Katelle muttered. She peered over the top of the bushes, her eyes narrowed. "There – you see it?"

Percy, Tom, Annabeth, Theon and Nico looked over the bushes cautiously. There was a shining spot in the air, pulsating slightly with light that belong from the time the portal went to. It was hard to tell in the dark, but Percy thought the rip in time looked like hundreds of shards of glass, spinning slowly around the center of the tear. The shards spiked out and in, like it was breathing, or was a heartbeat. It was as if there was literally a shattered spot in time, and there was glass left over.

"So, now what?" Percy asked in a low voice. Now that he saw the monsters fighting in the field, he didn't want to startle them.

"We have to startle them into the anomaly." Katelle replied. "We all run out at once, and that should be enough to scare them back home."

"What are the Predators?" Annabeth asked. "I don't remember any dinosaur like that."

"They're not from any recorded era," Katelle murmured.

"What do you mean?" Tom asked, and motioned at the clearing.

"It's a long story." Katelle whispered back sharply. "Now be quiet!"

"No recorded era?" Annabeth asked. "What are you saying . . . the future?"

"Thousands of years in the future," Katelle whispered. "I don't know where they came from, or how they evolved into what they are, but it's one of the things that led to the destruction of –"

"Destruction of what?" Annabeth asked.

"It's not important." Katelle murmured. "It's not going to happen."

"The destruction of humanity." Tom suddenly said. His eyes widened as though a thousand things had suddenly fallen into place. "That's it! You're all from the future aren't you? And you," he pointed at Katelle, "you've seen the future and destruction of all humans, haven't you?"

She shook her head and said through gritted teeth, "this is not the time."

Suddenly, across the clearing, there was a snap and a boy fell from a tree. Another student let out a startled cry, which they couldn't quite make out from where they hid, but it was enough. All of the dinosaurs and Predators in the clearing stopped fighting and turned toward the boy, who was struggling to get up, and a girl, who was climbing down to get him. There was something familiar about the girl and boy . . .

"It's Than and Inanni," Katelle said matter-of-factly. "Crap. Change of plans: I'll distract the dinosaurs and lead them into the anomaly. There should be another anomaly in that time, that leads to the future where the Predators belong. I'll lure them there."

"By yourself?" Percy asked.

"Are you insane?" Theon put in. "I've seen these things before, they run almost as fast as me! There's no _way_ you can outrun them, and that anomaly is getting weaker."

"How can you tell?" Annabeth asked.

"What if more than one person goes?" Tom suddenly blurted. "If there's more than one target, they could get confused. That would give everyone time to get out alive."

"Clever," Katelle said, "but no one's going to want to get stuck in the future. Believe me."

"We can't let these things get caught in this time," Theon said. "The Predators breed like maniacs and the _utahraptor_ need to be returned to their time. All sorts of problems could happen to the time line if they're misplaced."

"Um, we're –"

"Out of time!" Katelle snarled. She grabbed her automatic from her pack and leapt over the bushes, firing several loads into the air. "Over here!"

The monsters stopped stalking the two students and watched her with interest. A few of the Predators started to run after her, and she charged straight through the anomaly, disappearing. Only a third of the pack followed her, since they had perfectly helpless victims in front of them. Theon ran out, and Nico lunged to stop him, but was too slow. Percy ran after the son of Hermes, which only made him a target as well.

Annabeth leapt out of the bushes and grabbed his hand. "Together or nothing," she said firmly.

Percy nodded, and yelled, "hey! Weird colorful chicken things! Over here!"

The dinosaurs watched them, and then the whole pack lunged at them at the same time. Percy just had time to think _uh oh_ before Theon darted out and grabbed him and Annabeth and started to run for the anomaly. A Predator jumped in front of them, blocking their way, snarling and popping as it used echolocation to see their heartbeats, which were racing faster than a horse's after a full gallop. Percy imagined they could probably hear their heartbeats from ten miles away.

The shining, glass-like floating wind chime got closer by the second as they ran, but so did the monsters behind them. Percy thought his arm was going to be permanently dislocated from his socket because of how fast Theon took off. Just as he took a step, Theon took three or four, so Percy sort of looked like he was half-skipping, half-tripping his way to the anomaly at about twenty-five miles per hour.

Tom, who had been ducking behind the bushes the whole time, suddenly burst out with remarkable speed as three raptors leapt at him at once.

_Okay,_ Percy thought. _That has to be all of the creatures . . ._

Then he saw the real reason Tom moved so fast. A Predator – _much_ bigger than the others – burst out of the treeline, running on all fours after Tom. Percy hadn't thought it was possible for an eleven year old that wasn't blessed with the power of speed like Theon to run as fast as he did. It was as if the air propelled him forward. Or maybe it was his utter terror that propelled him forward so fast.

Percy looked forward, where he was actually running, just in time to see a flash of glass. A bright light flooded his vision and they were suddenly in a totally different world. Percy slowed in shock, gaping at his surrounds, which nearly resulted in his arm being extracted from his shoulder by the freight train know as Theon. He let out a sharp yelp, and struggled to keep in step with Theon. Annabeth didn't appear to having any more luck.

They ran up a sloping hill, which had an outcropping of rocks at the top, over-looking a rolling valley of golden grass, distant dark green forests. A huge herd of . . . whatever those dinosaurs were – they looked like part rhino, part cow, and part reptile rolled into one – grazed on the grass, doing their important job as an organic automatic lawn mower. The ground they walked on was sandy and warm, the heat pulsating off the ground and warming Percy to the bone. He hadn't realized how cold England was until he came here.

The sky was a brighter blue than he remembered, with a few wispy clouds near the horizon. The sun was directly the sky, as apposed to where they came from. It had been nearly dark in England of 1938, but by the looks of the sun in this era, it was high-noon. There was a screech, and a huge bird – and when he said huge, he meant _huge_, like the size of a small aircraft – soared over their heads, scanning the ground for acceptable food.

Grass? _Nah._ Big scaly cow things? _Pass._ Monsters chasing those two-legged pinklings? _Nope._ The two legged pinklings themselves? _Hmm . . . __I'll take an order of Percy Jackson with a side of Annabeth and Tom. _

Percy was yanked from his morbid thoughts as Theon ducked behind the outcropping of rocks, pushing them into a small cave-like alcove. As Tom ran by, Theon grabbed him and shoved him into the alcove unceremoniously as well. Theon scrambled back into the alcove as far as possible, his breathing short and ragged. Then he began taking large, exaggerated breaths, pressing his fingers on his pulse. Percy was about to ask when Theon explained for him.

"Slow you breathing and pulse rate," Theon instructed. "It'll make it harder for them to find us."

"We're right behind an alcove of rocks!" Tom hissed. "Can't they just _smell_ us?"

Theon shook his head. "No. Where they come from, smell is useless. They have evolved to see sound, because that's all they had to go by."

"Where do they come from?" Tom asked. When Theon hesitated, Tom let out an irritated huff. "Oh would you just tell me? I can already tell we're millions of years in the past. Those creatures on the hill are _Maiasaurus_, which lived roughly 85 million years ago."

Annabeth nodded appreciatively. "He knows his stuff."

"Okay, fine," Theon said. "They're from the future. Way, way far in the future. We have to find the anomaly that they came through and send them _all _back. If we don't, then they'll get on the loose here and it'll be the end for us all."

"There's not that many of them," Tom said doubtfully. "Would they just –"

"_Shh!_" Annabeth whispered. The ground started to pound, and suddenly the entire pack ran by, chasing something. Thankfully, they didn't seem to realize that the something they were chasing was hiding behind the rocks.

One Predator broke off from the pack, inspecting the outcropping in the rocks. It was smaller than the rest, a juvenile, and curious about what was behind those rocks. _Who knew?_ The Predator probably thought. There could be tasty pinklings behind the rocks, hiding. They did that a lot, after all. For some reason the pinklings didn't like to be torn to pieces and eaten. The Predator didn't know why. Ripping and eating was just so fun!

It could hear heartbeats throbbing from around the rocks. Their fear radiated through the atmosphere, filling him with a blood frenzy. They were prey, and they were _his_ prey. He took several steps forward, sending out more waves of echolocation. He was only a few feet away. They were dead meat. He coiled, and went in for the kill.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter finished! I enjoyed this one a lot. Well, I've kind of enjoyed this whole story so far. Not much more to say than: the Predator likes pinklings. **

**PokeCaptain: Thank you! And I don't think I will, because a lot of people still haven't read BoO yet, so I don't want to spoil anything for them. **

**MysticRyter: Sorry for tricking you into that. Well, not really. (Yep, stole a page from Rick Riorden's book. Now I know why he did that unspeakably cruel author's note.)**

**princessofthenight17: I won't be putting any spoilers in here, don't worry. **

***muttering* how can people no like spoilers? I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well as the last one! And remember to review. :D I feel like a beggar. Reviews! Reviews for the homeless!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Heads up! There's a really tiny little spoiler for BoO in here, so if you don't want to read it skip over the part that starts and ends with *^*^*. It's really a minor spoiler, and won't kill anything about the book. But if you're really strict about it, I put that there. So yeah. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

**Back to the Future**

Percy held his breath as the Predator came closer and closer. Theon pulled a small object from his robes pocket that resembled Hermes' caduceus and flicked it. It elongated into a dagger that was a few inches longer than Pipers, but shorter than Percy's sword. The hilt was adorned with symbol of twisted snakes, also like Hermes' complaining wand, with a single strip of Imperial Gold running down the middle of the blade. The outside blade was a glowing type of silver, and then the very edges were Celestial bronze.

Had Percy not been seconds away from being turned into Predator chow, he'd be jealous.

Sickle claws gripped the side of the outcropping rocks, and then a double-domed head followed. Its beady black eyes were near sightless, but its open maw sent out wave upon wave of echolocation. It immediately knew that there were four tasty demigods, all starring the character Sitting Duck. It coiled down, its muscles tensing to attack and –

Theon sword shot out and ran straight through the monster's chest.

Tom let out a strangled sound that resembled a mix of a dry-heave and a sigh of relief. He coughed several times and said, "I thought you weren't killing them. Something about rupturing time?"

"Weren't you listening?" Theon pushed the Predator off his blade and kicked its carcass away. He peered over the outcropping, and stood up when he saw nothing threatening. "They're from two thousand years on the future, give or take a century. We can't change the past if they're from the future."

"But would that change the future after that future?" Tom asked. "Like, if you killed that one, it changed something after that."

Theon and Percy looked at him in disbelief. Theon laughed, pressed the twisted snakes. The sword shrank back down to its original size. "I think you're looking into this _way_ too much."

Tom scowled. "I'm new here!"

"Tom Riddle admitting he doesn't know something?" Percy muttered. "Hold you breath, the world might end!"

Theon snickered. "Come on. We have to find the anomaly to the future. And Katelle – preferably alive."

"That would be good," Percy said.

They stood up quietly, followed the dust trail the Predators and raptors left in their wake. Percy's hyperactive brain was on turbo, taking in every bit of change that the Earth had over gone in a period of 85 million years. There were plants that looked like creatures from _Metroid Prime_, and fungi that grew on rocks, trees, and could take over their hosts. Theon warned Percy not to touch it, unless he wanted to turn into a walk mushroom.

The assortment of dinosaurs was amazing. Percy didn't know how – and he didn't ask for fear of a lecture – but Theon seemed to know exactly was season it was. As they reached the peak of a hill, another narrow valley opened below them. It was like an interstate for the dinosaurs, their yearly migration rout. The valley was lined with a dense forest, so anything could hide in there and no be seen. The thousands of prehistoric footsteps thundered on the ground, so it felt like a permanent earthquake.

Theon knelt behind a rock. "We don't have time to wait, but you guys really should see this."

Percy waited a few seconds, and then burst out, "see what? The dinosaurs are all running –"

An explosive roar cut Percy off, and a ginormous dinosaur crashed out of the treeline surrounding the migration rout. Percy felt like the breath had been stolen from his lungs. He had seen dinosaurs skeletons – all thanks to Nico – but he had never seen such a large dinosaur _alive._ It was built like a _tyrannosaur,_ but Percy thought it looked a little taller and scrawnier than a good old T-Rex.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

"_Gigan__t__osaurus,_" Theon murmured back. "Bigger and faster than a T-Rex. Those are the guys that separated me from Ivan and Aiden."

The _Gigantosaurus _lunged at a smaller dinosaur – one of the rhino/cow/reptile things – and clamped its jaws on the prey's neck. The rhino-cow-a-tile-saurus let out once high pitched squeal before falling to the ground under the weight of the _gigantosaurus's_ foot and jaws. Within a few seconds the theropod had ground up fast food at his feet.

Tom looked greener than Percy had ever seen him. "That was disgusting. Why did you put me through that?"

Theon stood up half way and crept down the side of the hill. They followed until they were sure they were out of sight and hearing distance. When he finally started to talk, he looked a little sad. "It's hard to explain. I had such an awe of dinosaurs, it was like I was in a movie. It wasn't until I saw what they could do that I snapped into reality."

"Plus it was kind of cool watching that big guy take down another big guy," Percy grinned.

"You people are weird," Tom grumbled.

"How did you and the twins live here for so long?" Annabeth asked as they restarted their trek after the Predators. "I'd constantly be afraid of messing up the timeline."

"We weren't too stressed about that," Theon said. "I mean, we were sent there to change something. We did try to preserve what we could, though. We ate lots of roots, shrubs, insects."

Tom cringed. "Insects?"

The son of Hermes laughed. "Yeah, well. There's a reason I lost weight I couldn't afford."

Theon led them all the way down the hill, and then stopped and ran at a small bush. He began to uproot it, and stuffed it in his pocket. When he saw them staring at him, he gave a laugh. "This stuff heals almost as good as ambrosia and nectar. You never know when you'll need it, or how much, so I just splurge and take the whole thing."

"Eating grass," Tom mumbled. "I'm feeling more and more like a cow."

"We need to hurry," Annabeth said. "Those anomaly things can obviously close and I don't want to be stuck in the Cretaceous Period."

"Why?" Percy asked jokingly. "Does shrubs with a side show of bad dino good dino not appeal to your tastes?"

"I wouldn't say bad dino, good dino," Tom said thoughtfully. "More like intermediate dino, helpless dino."

Theon and Percy looked at him dumbly. Theon shook his head. "I said it once and I'll say it again. You look into things _way_ too much."

It didn't take them much longer to find the anomaly, which glowed brightly on the side of a tall, sloping hill. Percy kicked a few all-healing shrubs out of the way, walking up close to the anomaly. The light flickered on their face from the spinning shards of time and dimension. It had a hypnotizing affect, like a camp fire. That was, until Percy remembered there were a bunch of bloodthirsty monsters on the other side of it.

"You know," Theon under his breath, "I think the _utahraptor _went through. They weren't supposed to do that."

"Yeah." Annabeth muttered. "They weren't supposed to, but we have to get away from here. One of those things could come back."

"Wait!" Tom held up his hands. "I don't want to get stuck here anymore than you guys, but what about Katelle? She's in there!"

"Not only Katelle," Theon muttered, fingering the beads on his necklace.

"What do you mean?" The words had barely left Annabeth's mouth when Theon darted into the anomaly.

"Hey!" Percy yelled. He lunged to grab Theon's arm, but was hilariously slow. Percy ran though after him, with Annabeth and Tom right behind him. He held his hand in front of his face as he walked into the anomaly, shuddering as he passed through the patch of ice cold air before stepping into an environment that was the complete opposite.

Percy stopped running as soon as he saw the place he dove in to.

There was a city before him, but instead of shining skyscrapers and hundreds of cars, there was rusty, crumbling ruins. Cars lined the sides of the streets, covered in dust and rust from old age, their doors open as if their owners had left in a rush. Most of the windows in the structures were broken and smashed out. There were shells of bullets on the barren, sandy, ground, along with a few abandoned assault rifles.

The air was hot and burned his lungs, with dust visible in the air. There was not one sound of life, only their own heartbeats and a trail of upturned dirt from where Theon had ran. Percy cautiously stepped forward, and his foot crunched on something. He froze, cringing as the noise seemed the echo in his head.

He picked up what he had stepped on. It was the anomaly detected device Katelle had before she disappeared. The glass screen was fracture, but it must had been really thick glass because the mapped out screen still displayed the world. A red blip pulsed where they stood, marking the anomaly to the Cretaceous Period. At least they didn't have to worry about getting lost.

And of course, Percy thought too soon.

The screen flickered, and the red blip waned. The long antenae was snapped half-way, so Percy figured its range wasn't as good as before. It was probably barely picking up the anomaly right behind him. If only he hadn't thought something hopeful. The ADD would probably be working still.

A gust of wind blew some metal debris – possibly from a car, or a roof tile, Percy couldn't tell – across the ground. The place looked like something straight from _I Am Legend._ Percy really wanted to leave before the freaky zombie dudes attacked. He wondered if there was zombies in the future . . .

Annabeth knelt in front of a machine gun. She picked it up, examining the gun. "This is high-level weaponry. It resembles something my dad is building, but it hasn't been released yet."

"So that proves it. We're not actually in some ancient city that destroyed millions of years ago." Percy asked, looking up at the dull orange cloudy sky. "I mean, no fun play and so on. This is actually humanity's future."

"It seems so," Annabeth muttered, dropping the weapon.

"Maybe we should leave," Tom said nervously.

"You were the one worried about Katelle," Percy replied.

"That was _before_ I saw what the future looked like," Tom grumbled. He took a few steps back, and let out a sharp cry of surprise.

Percy whirled around in time to see Tom teetering on the edge of a sheer cliff. An enormous chasm ran almost all the way around the city, turning it into a peninsula of sorts. He leapt forward and grabbed Tom's hand by the fingers just before he fell out of range to hold onto. Tom's face was as white as sheet, and his free hand scrabbled at the side of the cliff for handholds. Percy knelt down to give himself lower center of gravity and held out his other hand.

"Hey, take my other hand. I'll pull you up." It was times like this that Percy really missed his older body. He had been so much stronger, even if he had been trying to regain his strength over the past few weeks.

With some effort, Tom swung his arm up and grabbed Percy's hand with a death grip. Percy hauled him back up on the solid ground, and Tom immediately lunged away from the cliff. "Vile gravity!"

"Nasty hobbits-es," Percy muttered as he stood up. "Now where would I hide if I was a half-way insane girl with a power trip being chased by a pack of crazy Predators?"

"She would look for a shelter," Theon appeared, making Tom give a short gasp of shock.

"Stop doing that!" Tom snarled. "You just appear out of no where all the time!"

"What's his problem?" Theon asked.

"One word," Percy replied. "Cliff."

"Ooh_,_" Theon said with a grin. "Have a tumble down the rabbit hole, did you?"

"I hate you," Tom muttered. "All of you."

"Theon, where is this?" Annabeth asked, motioning at the ruins of the city. "I mean, I know it's the future, but where on Earth is it?"

"This?" Theon cast critical eyes on the city. "I believe this is London."

Annabeth looked struck speechless. She started to walk toward the city, and Percy shouted, "what are you doing?"

"There has to something about this in the city," Annabeth said. "We need to know how this happened. And keep your voice down!"

Percy ran to stop her, which took him farther from the anomaly than he would have liked. "Annabeth, that's crazy. I mean, I'm totally for crazy, but this is like tackling Tartarus again. Only this time, the monsters can hear our heartbeats and move a lot faster."

"Not to mention, they're intelligent," Theon put in. "Going in there is suicide, Annabeth. It's practically their breeding grounds. There's hundreds – if not thousands – of them in there."

She turned around with an irritated sigh. "This is the future of _our_ world. This doesn't just affect us, this is the _entire_ world. Mortals, gods, nymphs, _us._ Percy, this needs to be investigated."

"We don't know if the whole world is like this," Theon said doubtfully.

"No," Tom said, startling them. "I had a dream about a place that looked like this, only it wasn't a city. Just miles upon miles of desolate land. This goes across the entire world."

"Which is why we need to investigate," Annabeth repeated. Percy felt like he stepped into a debate round. "There has to be a library, or a business building. We could even search for newspaper clippings."

Percy turned Riptide over in his hands. "As much as it's really dangerous, I'm with Annabeth on this one. If there's any way we can prevent this, we need to know."

"There's already people out there to do that!" Theon cried, waving his arms around. He motioned to the buildings and the broken cars. "This place is _filled_ to the brim with monsters."

"What people?" Annabeth asked. "Who are they?"

"I don't know," Theon said. "I've chanced upon them a few times. They research the anomalies and try to find ways to stop them. The reason I could only find a way to get to time like 1938 was because they have ways of stopping anything from going in and out of the anomaly. I had to come through to time where they weren't messing with them. It's impossibly hard to get to the 21st century."

"Hate to break this up, but," Tom pointed at the anomaly, which was beginning to pulsate in and out, as if the "breathing" was getting erratic. "Is is supposed to be doing that?"

"It's closing," Theon breathed. "It's closing! Hurry up!"

He pushed Percy and Annabeth toward the anomaly, while dragging Tom behind him. Their footsteps sent dust pluming into the air, occasionally crunching on a round of ammo, or broken glass. Percy grabbed Annabeth's hand and jumped at the anomaly. Just as he was about to pass through, it disappeared, leaving nothing but empty air and rather large chasm behind it. Theon yanked Percy back before he could fly off the cliff, and they took several steps back, staring at the place where their way home used to be.

"Where is it?" Tom asked.

"It's gone," Theon said pulling his caduceus from his pocket and flicking it into sword form. "It might open up again, but there's no way of knowing when."

Percy wiped his hands on his trousers. "So until then?"

"We're stuck here," Theon said.

* * *

Jason ran his hands through his hair, pacing in front of the anomaly. Percy and Annabeth had been in there with Theon and Tom for over twenty minutes. He didn't know how long the wind chime things stayed open, but it wasn't bound to stay how it was forever. He was getting restless of standing in the Forbidden Forest with a wailing Inanni Dolohov and a surprisingly quiet Than Weasley.

"What were you guys even doing out here?" Piper asked Inanni. "You knew that the Forbidden Forest was off limits."

"I wanted to make sure it was closed!" Inanni cried. "After last year, I wanted to make sure that the monsters never came back!"

"What were they?" Than asked softly. "They clearly weren't normal creatures."

"That's not important," Piper replied.

"I'm all for risky," Sirius said, "and that was totally a risk I would have taken. So I guess I can't say anything wise and reprimanding to you."

"Frank would have just turned into a weasel," Leo blurted.

"_What?_" Inanni shrieked.

"Inside joke!" Leo said quickly. His hair started to smoke.

Sirius jabbed Leo with his elbow and coughed. He scratched his head, trying to send the message that Leo was about to spontaneously combust in a matter of seconds. Leo seemed to get the hint, because the smoking stopped, but Inanni was still giving him a confused look. Jason figured the way they were going, they'd reveal to Inanni and Than that they were demigods sooner than later.

He stared back at the anomaly. How long had it been now? Thirty, forty minutes? He counted to ten. They didn't come out. He counted to ten again. They still didn't come out. "That's it." He burst out. "I'm going to go look for them. They've been in there over a _half hour!_"

"I don't think they wanted anyone to follow them," Frank stated cautiously.

"I agree with Jason," Piper said. "They have been in there for a long time, and that . . . anomaly could close at any second."

"But if you go in there," Draco said, "you could get stuck as well. That would be counterproductive."

"Didn't Theon say that the twins were in the Cretaceous?" Jason asked.

"I think so," Nico murmured. "They could be still in there! We should go look for them while Percy and Annabeth look for Katelle."

"Just like that?" Draco sighed irritably. "Then you'd get stuck, leaving you no better off than your annoying brothers."

Nico's face visibly darkened. "Want to say that again?"

"Guys!" Piper called, her voice layered with charmspeak. "I think we should wait a little longer. If they don't come through, then we can look for them. How's that?"

"Fine, I guess." Jason agreed reluctantly.

He looked at the anomaly, torn with decisions. He remember a conversation he had had with Percy's mother before they left. He knew Sally Jackson had gone to at least him and Annabeth with direct orders to bring Percy back in one piece. He had sworn to her that he would protect all of the seven, including Percy. He didn't plan of breaking his promise, either.

Nico looked even more restless than Jason. Only a few more minutes passed before he finally burst out, "I'm going in. If anyone wants to come, be my guest."

Jason glanced back at everyone. Piper nodded at him. "Jason, Nico and I will go in. Do _not_ let anyone else go through!"

Leo grinned and mock-saluted. "Aye-aye, beauty queen!"

"And don't call me beauty queen," Piper added.

"Yeah, yeah," Leo waved it off.

Nico didn't waste time with ceremony. He jogged straight through the anomaly and disappeared into the other side, leaving Jason and Piper no choice but to follow. Piper waved one more time before walking through. Draco raised his eyebrows at them in response, and Hazel smiled nervously. Frank looked torn between following and staying, but Jason aimed a _don't even think about it_ look at him.

On the other side, Jason was stunned see the difference between the 20th century and the Cretaceous Period. They were on a hill, facing a valley with hundreds of cow-like dinosaurs grazing. There was a sparse pine forest to their left, and behind them a wide desert stretching out for miles. Jason never would have thought that several billion years ago, Scotland was a desert.

Nico looked around. "Where did they go?"

"See the path?" Piper pointed to the ground. The soil was turned up from tons of dinosaurs running over it. "They probably followed that to find Katelle."

Nico looked hesitant. "I wonder where . . ."

Jason felt a pang of sympathy for the son of Hades. "Nico, we can't even be sure if this is the right year for Ivan and Aiden to be here. It could be six hundred years in the past or future."

"I know," Nico snapped.

"Let's follow the path," Piper suggested. "With all the noise that the dinosaurs and the Predators made, if Ivan and Aiden were here, they would have stopped to investigate."

Jason didn't want to get Nico's hopes up, for fear of them being dashed, but nodded anyway. "That sounds like a plan."

"Fine," Nico muttered.

They set out down the hill, and Jason took the time Nico was distracted by his inner thoughts to watch him. Jason worried about Nico, since he always seemed to be lonely. Since they had been de-aged to eleven, it had brought out the Italian complexion, and made him look a little livelier and healthy. There had been times when Nico slipped into Italian, so Jason wondered if being eleven triggered some memories of Italy and her language.

Jason turned his attention back to the ground. After the outcropping of rocks, footprints appeared. He figured that Percy and the others had probably ducked behind the outcropping to hide from the dinosaurs and Predators behind them, and then followed the path as they did. He wondered what had taken them so long. With Annabeth with them, Jason knew it wasn't ADHD getting them distracted.

"It's beautiful here," Piper said.

Nico took a deep breath. "Cleanest air I've ever breathed, as well."

"Well," Piper replied, "it hasn't had several thousand years of pollution to make the air dirty."

They reached the top of another rolling hill. Below them, the pine forest started to unfurl for miles. A flash of movement caught Jason's eye. ***^*^*** He squinted, staring down at the forest, really, really wishing he had his glasses. Being nearsighted sucked more than anything. ***^*^*** Another blur of movement made him refocus on the forest. The blur disappeared into the forest, but no before Jason saw the humanoid shape.

"I saw something down there," Jason said, pointed to the forest.

"There's lots of somethings down there," Piper said with an amused smile. "Trees, and more trees."

"No, I saw something move. Looked like a person." Jason insisted, motioning down the forest again.

"If they haven't come up to greet us," Nico murmured, "then more than likely they're not friendly."

"Why would anyone who isn't friendly stay around in the Cretaceous?" Jason asked. "If someone got stuck here, you'd think they wanted to get back."

"Remember what Katelle said?" Piper asked, squinting under the rays of the sun. "There are other people out there, who travel the anomalies. Theon told us himself that there was a man going around deliberately changing things."

"That means he needs to be stopped." Jason rested his hand on the hilt of his _gladius._ "If we kept him from messing anything else up, that would make our job a lot easier."

Nico looked back down at the forest. "True. You said it was only one?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "And it didn't look like you brothers. It was too small."

"A dinosaur?" Piper suggested.

"Definitely humanoid," Jason countered.

She sighed. "We should check it out, since we're here. But we can't take too long on this!"

Jason and Nico jogged down the hill, staying slightly crouched so their footsteps werw quiet and they were harder to see. At the base of the hill, the towering pines opened up for them to take in their true height. Their trunks were larger than trucks, and they went up easily a few hundred feet. The forest floor was a bed of pine needles, with low laying underbrush of ferns.

Nico and Jason crept into the forest, Piper right behind them. It was silent. There were no birds, no sounds of small animals rustling through the pine needles. It was as if there was a carnivore in the area, and all of the other animals were lying low in wait for it to pass by. As soon as the thought cross Jason's mind, he wished it hadn't.

They walked a few more feet into the forest, their footsteps as silent as the atmosphere around them. A loud thumping noise made Jason jump, and he resisted the urge to strangle it as it walked across their path, dragging it clearly _not_ broken wing behind it. He guessed it was an early Roughed Grouse-like bird, which beat its wings against logs to scare away enemies.

Nico watched the bird with little interest. He had barely blinked an eye when the thumping had started, and Jason really wanted to know how he managed to keep himself constantly steeled. Then again, if the answer was something to do with Tartarus, then Jason really didn't want to know. He was fine with jumping a little and not being scarred for life, thank you very much.

"What that the dark shape you saw?" Nico asked.

"No," Jason sighed, "I said it looked humanoid."

"Well, I don't see any humans around here." Nico muttered.

He spoke too soon.

Jason returned his eyes to the forest in front of him. He bit back a curse as his heart leapt into his throat.

There was man standing before them, poised as if he had been there the whole time. He wore black robes, which hung partially open in the front, allowing for him to move freely. His trousers and boots were also black, and dark, heavy hood obscured the top half of his face. There was a sword strapped over his shoulder, and another at his side. He had wrist bracers and a set of small throwing knives on the same shoulder as the sword.

He was armed to teeth, and was so silent that he had moved right in front of them in a period of two seconds without them hearing or noticing. Jason wasn't looking forward to getting in a fight with this guy. Thankfully, they outnumbered him three to one, so their odds looked pretty good. He just hoped the man didn't fight as good as he was silent.

"Um, hello?" Piper tried for a polite smile.

The man responded with unsheathing his swords, and advancing on them calmly.

"Guess diplomacy is out of the question," Nico grumbled.

The man suddenly jumped, lunging at Jason with incredible speed. Jason jerked back, unsheathing his _gladius_ and holding it at the ready. It was as if the shadows helped the man, making it harder and harder for Jason to see him. There was a flash of steel, and Jason brought his _gladius _up just in time to deflect the hit. The steel slammed into his sword with a stunning amount of force, nearly sending Jason careening back.

At that moment, another shadowy man appeared and jumped at Nico and Piper. Nico twisted his ring, and _Tenebris _appeared in his hand. Jason felt an electric spark run down his spine, and he smashed his sword against the other man's as hard as he could. The man flew back and hit a tree with a startled yell. A second later, he jumped right back to his feet.

An idea crossed Jason's mind. They were time traveling, and this man was in the past with him. He already knew the world was pretty messed up. Jason decided to try and explode his brain a little more with some creative morphing. He hadn't tried to change into his animagus form since he was in his sixteen year old body, but hoped that the potion would still work.

He focused, and felt his body shrink. His clothes melted into his skin, and feather sprouted. The ground got closer and closer until he was only about two feet off of it. He spread his wide, proud wings, letting out a triumphant screech, and took off into the air as a bald eagle. He circled around the man's head, and was more than a little confused to notice a total lack of surprise.

He dove at the man's face, his talon's outstretched. The man dodged at the last second, so Jason had to pull up before running into the ground. He wished Leo, or even Sirius was there. They could use a dog with claws and teeth, and a dragon would definitely do. Nico was raven, and he was fairly sure that Piper was a type of bird as well.

He landed, and changed back into a human as fast as possible. He lifted his sword, and was about to charge again with the man lifted his hand and let out a sharp whistle that resembled a hawk's. The other man, who was attacking Piper and Nico, abruptly stopped mid-jump and tucked it into a roll. He came up standing next to the original man.

Or at least, Jason thought it was the original man. They were both dressed identically, so it was impossible to tell.

"You've gotten a little slow in your old age," the man of the left said.

"Or is it young age?" The one of right suggested.

Jason frowned. Why did he recognize those voices?

"Let us make it easier," They said in unison. They pulled their low hoods back.

Jason realized that they weren't men, but kids maybe a little older than he himself before he was de-aged. Their faces were still have obscured under a mop of wildly tangled curly black hair, which looked like it hadn't been washed in ages. Their faces were dirty and marred with a few cuts and scars. Their green eyes had dark circles hanging under them.

What stood out the most was the scar on the right boy's neck, going from under his ear to his collar bone. It was jagged, as if something with claws and got him on unawares. Besides for that, if it weren't for the total lack of smiles and the sullen atmosphere around them, Jason would think . . .

"Ivan, Aiden?" Nico asked in awe.

"Well, at least someone recognizes us," Ivan and Aiden said, and for the first time since they appeared from no where, smiles lit their faces.

* * *

**A/N: Ahhh! Finally I finished this chapter! For some reason I had the _hardest_ time with this one! I was at four pages and kept scrolling up and down, trying to think of how to make it longer. Then I thought, why not pretend to have a bad guy attack and have it end up being the twins? ****And what do you think about Percy, Annabeth, Theon and Tom being in the future, with Piper, Jason and Nico in the past?**

**I think this chapter was a little shorter than the others, but don't worry. The next will make up for it. You'll be learning what Katelle's animagus form is! (And Tom'll have a small - huge - fright).**

** I said in a previous chapter that Tom's fatal fear is mosquito hawks, and there's sort of a back story to why I chose that. My little brother has a _deathly_ fear of mosquito hawks. I don't know why, but if I were to walk up behind him and say, "there's a mosquito hawk on your head", he would scream at the top of lungs and run. I once dropped a fuzz from the laundry on his back and gasped "mosquito hawk!" and literally _screamed_ and ran to mom crying. I felt kind of bad, but was laughing at the same time. So yeah. Fear of mosquito hawks totally can happen.**

**BetheBeast: I'll be putting animagus in the chapters to come, don't worry! And the demigod powers are far from forgotten. So don't worry! **

**Breakout214: I keep on having to read about how to write a proper essay. I hate it so much that I block it out from my memory every time I read about it. I hate essays, and essays hate me. I just feel so inpired about this story, so I feel like I can write and write for ages. **

**I'm going to end this author's note before it turns into a book. I guess I can sort of type as much as I talk. A lot. I'm willing to answer any questions or comments about this story, so feel free to ask!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

**Who Let the Tigers In?**

Annabeth stared at the empty space in shock. In had been there one minute, and the next, it was gone. Their only way back to the others had closed right in front of them. As if that couldn't get much worse, she was stuck in the future, where monsters wandering freely with no more demigods to do the dirty work of killing them. She was tempted to ask Theon where the gods were, but she was afraid of the answer.

"Oh my gods." Percy said.

"We're going to need a place to stay," Theon said. "There's occasional wind storms that hit this place – sort of like a sand storm, only with acid sand and unbreathable air. We don't want to be caught out in one of those."

"Oh my gods," Percy repeated.

"You've been here before?" Annabeth asked.

"Are any of you freaked out by this?" Percy said incredulously. "Because I am."

"Unfortunately?" Theon said, ignoring Percy. "Yes. And I hated every second of it. I was with Ivan and Aiden at the time. That was right before we found an anomaly that took us to the Cretaceous. It was like the Garden of Eden after being stuck here for a few weeks."

"I don't suppose they have a place to get cheeseburgers here," Percy suggested.

"Cheeseburger?" Tom muttered, a lost expression on his face.

"Ah, my apprentice," Percy said, sounding more like Leo than he knew, "you see, a cheeseburger is a patty of beef, cooked, obviously, with cheese, and all put in bun with ketchup and lettuce."

"I still don't get it," Tom said, "but with the relish you say "cheeseburger" I'm guessing it tastes good."

"You have no idea," Percy said.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "So, Theon, I suppose you know a place for us to stay?"

"Yeah, over there," Theon pointed in a general direction to their left, "there's an abandoned bunker. We camped out there for a while. There should still be some fresh water."

"So how many different times _haven't_ you gone to?" Percy asked, trying to play off his fear. "I mean, you must be an expert at this."

"Several," Theon said, "and it's alright to be afraid. I know how scary it is to be stranded in another time."

He stopped at an outcropping of rocks, not unlike the ones in the Cretaceous Period, and pointed at two trucks parked side-by-side. "There's a trap-door there that leads to a bunker. We're taking a risk going so close to the city, but there's an anomaly detecting device in there."

"Anomaly detecting device?" Annabeth asked.

"ADD?" Percy laughed.

Theon smiled, "yeah. Unfortunate acronym, but I did say there were mortals working on the anomaly thing, didn't I?"

He jumped over the outcropping, sweeping his over-grown sandy curls from his eyes. Percy shrugged and followed him. Annabeth glanced back at Tom, who seemed reluctant about walking into a wide open clearing only a few hundred meters from the city. A city, which happened to full to the brim with monsters and other creatures that might have been worse. She couldn't say she blamed him for being afraid. She had been terrified when she was on the streets, even if she had been seven.

There were a few power lines connected to telephone poles lining an ancient looking paved road. The lights were blown out, with jagged edges of glass protruding from the ground. The pavement was cracked and covered in a fine layer of sand, which made the erosion of road even worse. Paired with the abandoned city behind it, the place looked like a perfect war zone out of _Half-Life_.

The power lines looked like they were still in passable shape, and Annabeth was tempted to see what she could salvage. One never knew when electronic would come in handy, and it seemed like all those little things she picked up throughout her life always eventually came in handy. Like kite string, for example. And duct tape and bubble wrap.

Annabeth shuddered, remember the dark catacombs under Rome, where she fought Arachne.

The ground rumbled, and huge plume of dust and smoke exploded into the air behind the city. It continued to rise in a semi-circle throughout the chasm around the city, howling with intensity. Annabeth frowned, squinting at the dirt. What was it? She wondered if it was one of the storms Theon had been talking about. If that was the case, they needed to get out there fast.

"Quick!" Theon shouted. "Wind storm!"

Annabeth jumped over the rocks, with Tom following behind her. She held her dagger out, and Tom had his wand in hand, although she didn't know what he would do with it, since he hadn't even had one defense class to learn defense spells. He might have read about some spells, but she wasn't sure if reading from the book would transition into a perfect working spell.

Percy uncapped Riptide, and the full-length bronze sword leapt out, gleaming slightly in the dim light. Tom gaped at the leaf-shaped Celestial bronze blade in shock. "I know I shouldn't be surprised by this anymore," he said, "but that is impossible."

"Dude," Percy said, "you just got sorted by a hat, and before that you watched a brick wall move into a doorway. Don't forget the fact we walked through a wind chime into the past, and then the future."

Annabeth tugged Percy along with her on their way to the bunker. Percy frowned, "now that I think about it, it gives me a headache. Tom, do your head a favor and just nod and accept it. It's much less painful."

"If you guys don't hurry up," Theon called, "you're going to have much worse than a headache."

Tom suddenly yelped and was thrown off his feet, landing on his back a few feet away from Annabeth and Percy. He tried to sit up, but a blur of gray swept by and he was knocked down again, his head smacking on a piece of metal jutting from the ground. The front of his shirt had torn rips in it, from where whatever it was that was circling them attacked him. Annabeth didn't see any blood, but he looked dazed.

The creature stopped moving, landing directly in front of Tom. It looked like a mosquito hawk that took steroids, went through Navy Seal training, and got a silicon fang enhancement. It's transparent wings buzzed on its back erratically, as if it had no control of them, and its long spindly legs reminded Annabeth a lot of a sp – you know what? She wasn't going to think about that.

Percy started to charge forward, yelling, "hey, lawyer impersonator, eat Riptide!", but another monster landed behind Tom, its fanged mouth hovering close to his neck.

"Stop!" Theon hissed, darted forward and grabbed Percy's arm. "They've taken him "hostage". These guys are really smart. We'll have to trick them somehow."

Of course, Tom chose that moment to wake up and see his literal worst nightmare hovering above his face. Annabeth remembered that Tom was as afraid of mosquito hawks as she was of spiders, if not more afraid. One of the little monsters had once flew around him at Wool's Orphanage, and he had nearly killed himself trying to get away.

The young Slytherin demigod paled dramatically, his entire body freezing as if he had been petrified by Medusa. He whimpered out, "help!"

"Stay still," Theon instructed. He looked up at the horizon, where the acid wind was getting stronger. They didn't have long. "I'll distract them into the city, and see if I can find Katelle. She needs shelter, if she's here."

"We don't know if she's here," Annabeth murmured. "That's suicide, as you've said _several_ times before."

"Help!" Tom whispered again.

"Okay," Percy said, "so you're the futuristic monster expert. What do we do?"

"We can't move, for one," Theon said. "As soon as they detect a threat, they'll bite Tom, and believe me, you do _not_ want that to happen."

Annabeth scanned the immediate area and set her eyes on the electrical wires. If they still could conduct electricity well enough. . . hmm.

Annabeth started to back away slowly, edging toward the bottom of one of the poles. The creatures hissed warningly, but didn't attack. Tom began to come to grips with the situation, and did the most logical thing one would do while they were surrounded by giant mosquito hawks. He freaked out. He started to scramble away, but the creature stabbed it's front legs into his shoulders, pinning him to the ground. Tom let out a yell, a mixture of fear and pain.

The telephone pole was rotted, but she power box at the top looked like it was still intact. Percy and Theon finally noticed she was gone, barely managing to peel their eyes away from the struggling Tom. Annabeth was sure she only had a few more seconds before Percy couldn't take it anymore and charged in, plan or no, and Tom turned into insect food. Or insect mush, she realized, depending on how they ate. She decided to block her train of thoughts after that.

She pressed her hands onto the rotten wood of the telephone wood doubtfully. She really didn't think the pole was going to carry her weight, even as a small eleven year old. She glanced over at Theon. Even though he was technically a year older physically, he literally hadn't grown an inch since she last saw him, and he was thinner. Percy was scrawny, but he had put on muscle mass with his training at the orphanage.

She glanced at the horizon again. It was only a matter of time before the wind storm exploded and started to ravage the city and the area around it. It was swirling up, like a giant demonic tornado, debris and sand whipping around.

"Theon," she said in a low voice, "I need you help."

Theon walked toward her as slow as he could – which was a feat, considering he liked to run everywhere – and looked up at the power box. "Are thinking what I think you are?"

"Electricity," Annabeth said. "It's perfect."

"It's crazy." Theon said. "How is it going to work?"

"Trust me. I need you to climb up there to the power box and open it." She went to instruct him on what levers to pull and wires to mess with. She knew this was incredibly dangerous, and she hoped Theon had the sense to jump down if something went wrong . . .

"What – what are you doing?" Tom's voice sounded very small.

"Electricity," Annabeth called back.

"How does that help me?" Tom yelled, which made the mosquito hawk give out a gurgling sound. "I can't take this anymore!"

Tom grabbed the mosquito hawk's legs and tried to pull them out of his shoulders, only to make the creature angry. Just as Annabeth was going to tell Theon to start climbing, a loud _POP!_ cut her off. A stream of electricity arched from Tom's hands to the creature's legs, which probably didn't feel very good for the monster. It wailed and pulled away quickly, taking up into the sky, its wings blowing up sand.

The first monster, which had been guarding the other, took off after its companion. Tom leapt to his feet and ran over to them, his legs nearly giving out. His face was still ashen, and his ocean-colored eyes were wide. He stared at the place he had nearly been eaten a few moments ago in a mixture of shock, terror, and disbelief.

"For the record," Tom finally said, "I want one of those swords. As soon as possible, preferably."

An explosion shook the air. Off on the horizon, the wind storm doubled its size. It started to howl their way, tearing over the city and surrounding desert. Tom snapped out of the shock first, to Annabeth's surprise, and started to shove them towards the bunker between the trucks. Theon took this as his roll call to drag them along at speeds about twenty miles an hour too fast for their legs. They stopped at the trucks, but Annabeth couldn't see the entrance of a bunker.

"Where is it?" Tom asked. His forehead was covering in a sheen of sweat, and there were two dark dark spots – albeit small – of blood on his shoulders. Annabeth figured he had been in shock, and now the wounds were starting to catch up to him.

Theon knelt and bent his head so he could look under the truck on the right. "It's under the truck!"

"You said it was _between_ –" Tom started.

"I know!" Theon interrupted. "Something moved the truck over the manhole. It could have been the wind, or a monster fighting and bumped into it, or –"

"No time!" Percy shoved against the truck, pushing with all of his strength.

Annabeth and Theon joined him, while Tom weakly pushed against the door of the vehicle. "What kind of automobile is this anyway?"

Theon suddenly stopped, looked behind him at the storm that was only seconds away. "We don't have time for this."

He hit the ground and crawled under the truck, prying his caduceus under the manhole and lifted the heavy metal up. "This is going to be very uncomfortable. Hurry up!"

Percy nudged Tom to go, and he complied. Tom slipped under the truck and fell into the manhole with a startled yell. A few moments later, while Annabeth was crawling under, she heard Tom yell up, "you could have warned me about the height of this bunker!"

Annabeth lowered her legs into the hole, feeling like she was in the catacombs of Rome again, and dropped down. This time, however, she landed right and didn't twist her ankle. She was ever so grateful about that. She looked up at the manhole, just as a violent gust of wind swept over the hole, followed by thick sand and debris.

"Percy!" She called. "Theon! Come on!"

Percy suddenly dropped in, and Theon slid in after him. Theon had to precariously hang from one hand while moving the heavy metal cover of the manhole in place. He let himself fall just in time so he didn't crush his hand when the lid fell in place, landing gracefully on the smoothly paved flooring. His shoes scuffed against the sand that blew in while the lid was open, which ruined the stealth part of landing.

They stood in a dark bunker, with shelves full of bins, and a separate door that was slightly ajar on the other side of the room. There was an open cabinet with medical supplies, which looked like it had been recently rummaged through. There were several trunks stacked against the wall next to the door, with one opened apart from the rest. It showed an assortment of guns, bullet magazines and tranquillizer darts.

Percy dissolved into a fit of coughing next to her, slumping against one of the shelves that had clear vials that seemed to be filled with water. Theon started coughing similarly, and headed toward the vials. He opened one and tasted it, and then spat it out, making a disgusted face. He fumbled through a few more vials in the same bin before tossing it over his shoulder.

"Wh – what are you doing?" Tom asked. He was sight for sore eyes. His skin was sickly gray and he shivered with almost uncontrollable violence. Through the punctured part of his shirt, his wound was turning an interesting shade of yellow and green.

"Looking for clean water," Theon muttered, before bursting in another bout of coughing. He tossed another bin over his shoulder. "There has to be _some_ left . . . yes!"

He swallowed a gulp of water and carried the bin down to them. "This is clean water."

"Can't – breathe!" Percy wheezed.

Theon opened vial and handed it to Percy. "Drink this. It'll heal you, because, you know, Poseidon. And it's good for you."

Percy downed the water and his breathing started to turn normal. He grinned lopsidedly. "Thanks."

"Who let in the tigers?" Tom whispered in a daze, pointing behind them.

Theon shot to his feet, in time to see a huge _Velociraptor_ turn towards him, its mouth open and its curious blue-gray-green eyes bright. Its large claw clicked against the floor, and plumed feathers spiked up on its back like haunches on a dog. It hissed, it muscles tensing as it coiled to strike. Theon darted to the open trunk of weapons and pulled out a handgun that was loaded, and cocked the weapon, aiming at the _Velociraptor._

The _Velociraptor _suddenly stopped moving, its muscles relaxing. It back away, making clicking and hollow honking calls. Annabeth stared at the dinosaurin awe. It was looking at a Paleontological legend. The _Velociraptor_ was the perfect killing machine, quick, intelligent, ruthless, but not like the monsters outside. It didn't kill for fun. Well, as far as she knew, at least.

Theon took the gun out of safety mode, re-aiming.

The _Velociraptor_ let out a startled sound, and its scales started to melt away, turning into pale skin. The plumed feathers on its head laid plat and grew into honey colored hair streaked with bright colors. The rest of the scales formed a leather jacket and trousers, the claws shrinking into black leather boots. In a few seconds, a girl with blonde hair, blue-gray-green eyes, and pale skin stood before them, holding her hands up in surrender.

"Whoa! Watch where you point that thing!"

"Katelle?" Tom asked blearily. "You're a tiger? That explains so much." He slumped over and collapsed to the ground in a heap.

Katelle looked at him in pity. "He's seen better days. Am I right?"

"You're a _Velociraptor_ animagus?" Annabeth asked in awe. "How?"

Katelle shrugged. "Don't know. Are you guys going to help him? What happened?"

"We followed you," Theon said a bit sharply, "and he got stabbed by one of those giant mosquito hawks."

"Ahh," Katelle nodding knowingly. "He's caught lawyer-itus."

"Not the time to joke!" Annabeth exclaimed, examining Tom's shoulder wounds. "It's really bad. What do we do?"

Theon crouched next to Tom and winced when he saw the wound. "Anyone got any leftover ambrosia?"

Katelle shook her head. "I used my only block on this," she opened her jacket and showed a deep claw gash across her collar bone.

"I've got this," Percy said doubtfully. He held out a small piece of ambrosia. "I know this stuff does miracles, but I don't know if it will be enough."

Katelle pulled back the edges of Tom's shirt near the wounds. She reached for her backpack and said, "anything will be fine for this. It's pretty bad."

"It it poisoned?" Annabeth asked.

"Venom," Katelle corrected. "The mosquito looking things have it all over their bodies. Be happy they didn't bite him. He'd be dead by now."

She snatched the ambrosia from Percy and nudged it into Tom's mouth. "Eat, eat. It's good tasting. Eat it. Now." Tom responded, coming out of unconsciousness and swallowed the ambrosia. "Good boy. I really hope Annabeth and Percy are right about you being a demigod, or you are going to be incinerated in a few seconds."

That brought Tom out of his daze quickly. "Wait – what?"

Katelle snorted, pawing through her backpack. "Nothing." She brought our a Ziploc bag full of dried moss. She grabbed one of the vials from Theon's bin. "Are these pure?"

"Yeah," he answered.

She popped open the vial and shoved the moss in, using her knife to crush the dried greenery up. The liquid turned thick, with a dull green color. She held her knife up above the mixture and watched the liquid drip down slowly. She wiped her knife off on her trousers and slipped it back into her boot and dipped her fingers into the vial.

She spread a thick glob of the potion on Tom's shoulder, and then did the same to the other puncture wound. The potion sank into his skin, staining it light green and healing the wound around the edges immediately. She continued until she used the entire vial on the wounds, and the capped the vial and tossed it in her backpack. When she noticed them looking at her strangely, she shrugged.

"You never know when that stuff we be useful. The watered down stuff makes an excellent energy drink." She slung her pack over her shoulder. "He should be feeling better in a few minutes. This stuff works miracles."

"That is disgusting," Theon muttered.

"You sure you're not a daughter of Apollo?" Percy joked, his voice a little raspy from the air above.

"Last I checked," she said.

"I've figured out that we're in the future," Annabeth said, trying to get them back on topic. "But how did this happen? What went wrong?"

Katelle slid down the wall, resting her elbow on her knee and leaving the other leg outstretched. "Us. _We_ went wrong. The anomalies hold a great amount of power, and a few scientists wanted to control that. They wanted to create a clean, boundless energy source for the world."

"And that's wrong?" Annabeth asked without thinking. "How did _clean_ energy do this?"

Katelle pulled her knife from her boot, fiddling with it for a few seconds before continuing. "We ruined a balance of nature. A Conversion of anomalies, where multiple anomalies opened up worldwide. There was so much energy, that it could last forever."

"But what went wrong?" Annabeth asked desperately. She motioned above her. "What caused this to happen?"

"I don't know!" Katelle laughed humorlessly. "Don't you think I would have changed it beforehand if I knew? All I know is that someone – I don't know who – messed with the Conversion. They redirected the energy, and it exploded on them. It turned into a magnet for energy and power, sucking everything from the earth. It's the reason the wind is so bad up there."

"The Conversions are natural, though?" Annabeth tried to clarify for herself. Her brain was in turmoil. Conversion, science, and time travel was all starting to blur in an unintelligible mess.

"Yeah." Katelle muttered. "If we can reset the time line, put everything back into place, this will never happen."

"How can we just change time like that?" Theon asked. "Couldn't that make really bad things happen?"

Katelle jabbed her finger up. "It can't get any worse than this, I'm afraid."

"Where are the gods?" Percy asked. Annabeth almost jumped. Percy had been uncharacteristically quiet the entire time she, Theon and Katelle were talking.

"They faded." It was the answer Annabeth had dreaded, yet expected. "There's only a few left. Poseidon, Hades, Hermes, Ares and Artemis."

"Artemis?" Annabeth asked. "Does that mean –"

"I don't know if Thalia's still alive here." Katelle said. "She could have died a long time ago. The only reason Artemis is still alive is . . . well, I really don't know why. She's tough, and there's still monsters to hunt, I suppose."

"Dad . . . is still here?" Percy looked extremely relieved.

Something struck Annabeth. Athena was no longer there. Annabeth had never had the best relationship with her mom, but now . . . Athena was gone? The goddess of wisdom and battle strategy had lost the will to go on? No matter how much Annabeth wanted to deny it, she couldn't. This wasn't a world Athena could bear to live in. There was nothing but chaos, no order, no wisdom, strategy, or anything of higher intellect.

Percy reached over and took Annabeth's hand comfortingly. Annabeth smiled sadly at him in response, trying not to feel too depressed. They would fix this, one way or another.

"Tigers!" Tom's eyes flew open and he sat up with a gasp. "Jungle – tigers –"

"There's no tigers, Tom," Katelle said with amusement.

"Are you sure?" Tom asked. His face was still pale, but not a pasty and death-like as it was before. "I saw . . . I know I saw –"

"You saw me in my animagus form," Katelle said. "And I'm a _velociraptor,_ not a tiger, thank you very much."

Tom seemed to mull in over in his head for a second. Finally he said, "Nah. It was a tiger."

Katelle shook her head. "Okay. I wasn't a _velociraptor._ I was a tiger."

Tom's eyes started to droop again. "A pretty _velociraptor._ Nice . . . eyes." His eyes closed and he fell back into a deep sleep.

Now Katelle looked a little worried. "Am I a tiger or a raptor? And he's reacting to the venom more than I thought."

Theon cackled with absolute delight, "keep telling yourself that."

"Oh shut up," She muttered, rolling her eyes.

"Tommy's got a crush!" Theon sang in falsetto.

"Real mature." Katelle deadpanned without interest. "Don't we have better things to worry about?"

"There's always time for everything," Theon said airily.

"Oh please!" Katelle said, rummaging through her pack. "I'll kill the shrimp when he wakes up. That's enough immaturity for the decade. When the wind stops, we're going to have to find a way to get back to a decent time."

"What are you thinking?" Theon asked. "Go-Go Gadget anomaly?"

She pulled her iPod from her pack. "Something like that."

* * *

**A/N: Soooo sorry for the long wait! I was distracted by designing my Halloween costume...I'll try to update sooner next time. Maybe after Halloween or something. I also got distracted by a story idea that hit me in face. I'm not focusing on it right now (kind of something I do on the side) but a PJ&amp;O and Assassin's Creed. Or something like that. I'm insane, I know. C'mon! You gotta admit that would be awesome! **

**(Mild spoilers for BoO ahead, tread at your own risk)**

**Theon Azul: The plot gods demanded that Jason's glasses be missing! Don't blame at me!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

**The Mid-Life Crisis**

"Y-you –" Piper spluttered. "You could have killed us!"

Ivan grinned, shifting from one foot to another as if he wasn't used to standing still for so long. "I wasn't going to kill you, duh."

"You could have convinced me better," Jason grumbled. He grinned widely, unable to keep it off anymore. "It's good you see you two safe."

Nico suddenly engulfed Aiden in a hug, and then grabbed Ivan for the same treatment. Both boys – Piper wasn't sure boys was the right term anymore – gave a start of surprise from the sudden contact. They both laughed and patted Nico's back. When Nico separated, his face was stern and commanding. Piper had only seen that face a few times, and usually it was directed at Will Solace. Most prevalent when Will crossed over Nico's personal space barriers.

"I forbid you two to ever disappear again," Nico said, pointed his finger at each of them in turn. "I was terrified for you, and I had absolutely no way if you were alive! All Theon said was that you distracted a bunch of dino –"

"Is Theon alright?" Aiden asked, cutting Nico off.

Bad move.

"Did I look finished?" Nico snapped. Piper was forcibly reminded of a mother hen.

The twins shook their heads simultaneously, and just like that they were reverted to nervous puppies being scolded by their big brother. Nico continued with his lecture, " – saurs, and then that was it. You could have died, for all I knew! Theon's fine, by the way. And then you show up in the middle of Cretaceous and attack us! You are _never_ allowed to go anywhere out of my line a sight again for a period longer than _never_ unless I, and two other people, give you explicit permission to."

Nico paused to take a breath. Piper half-expected Ivan and Aiden to started bartering with their alone time, but was surprised when Aiden asked, "why two other people as well?"

"In case you manage to actually convince me," Nico said stubbornly. "The two other will be able to overturn me."

Ivan turned to Piper and Jason. "Sorry, can't help you guys. We're grounded."

Jason snorted. "Go Nico."

Aiden crossed his arms. "I'll have you know, we can take care of ourselves _just_ fine."

"I don't doubt it," Nico admitted, "but I still want to – _what it name of the gods happened to your finger?!_"

Ivan held up his hand. His index finger was missing entirely. "Um . . . I lost it? It ran away. Honest."

Piper's mouth fell open. She ran forward and grabbed his hand, holding up to the light as if to check for any tricks. She couldn't see anything that struck her prank-like, and between Sirius, Leo and Theon, she had gotten good at it. There was nothing but . . . well, nothing. It was kind of gross looking, but it was a clean scar. It hadn't been bitten off.

"How?" Nico demanded, still staring at where his brother's finger used to be.

Ivan extracted his hand from Piper's grip and scratched his head nervously. "Um, how to explain?"

"Dark ages," Aiden mumbled. "I tripped and accidentally poked a guy's eye out with my knife."

"They were going to take one of our eyes," Ivan mused.

"We convinced them to take both of our index fingers instead," Aiden held up an identically missing finger.

"Using our incredible powers of persuasion, of course," Ivan said with a cocky grin.

Jason sighed in disappointment, and said sadly, "so much for being able to tell you two apart."

"Jason!" Piper protested.

"They're alright," Ivan said. "Besides, it gives us room to have these beauties." He tapped the wrist brace, and a knife shot out. It took up the place where their fingers used to be, serving as a much deadlier substitute. The Celestial bronze blade gleamed, and they pretended to punch something. The knife stuck out so that if they actually did punch something, they would skewer it. If Piper ignored the missing finger, it was pretty useful.

Jason gaped. "Oh, man, I want one!"

Nico scowled, and glared at them darkly. "Are you sure that story about the guy's eye being poked out was made up to explain how you two mangled your fingers with those things?"

They shifted uncomfortably. "No?"

"You guys are really losing the lying talents," Jason said with a grin. "No more tricking, huh? Looks like your pranking days are over, assassin."

They both jumped simultaneously. "What?" Their voices sounded slightly strangled.

Jason rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. I know _Assassin's Creed_ getup when I see it. Right down to the blade. Are you sure you guys didn't just chop off your own fingers to have it?"

They grinned. "We couldn't resist the outfits."

Ivan said indignantly, "and we did _not_ chop off our own fingers!"

"So what are you three doing in this time period?" Aiden asked, abruptly changing the subject. It sounded as if he was asking, _so, what brings you here to this cafe?_

That brought Piper back to the present. "Percy, Annabeth, Tom and Katelle disappeared into the anomaly that brought us here a while ago. We've been looking for them."

"Did you try the huge pack of Predators chasing Katelle?" Ivan asked flatly. "I'm pretty sure she went in a general that way direction." He pointed to the hill they had run down to reach the forest.

"You saw Katelle getting chased by Predators," Jason asked slowly, "and you didn't help?"

They snorted and said, "looked like she was handling it just fine."

Aiden snickered. "Never seen her run that fast, though."

"Whoa, slow down," Piper held up her hands. "You guys know Katelle?"

She had shifted into uncomfortable territory again. "It's hard to explain. She's traveled to a lot of times, so your chances of bumping into her are higher than you'd think."

"So you guys know her?" Jason asked.

Was it just her imagination, or was Aiden turning red? It was hard to tell under that mop of hair.

Ivan's face was splitting with a grin. "I'm not so sure about me, but –"

"Oh, shut up," Aiden snapped.

Jason looked back and forth between them. "It must be hereditary for Riddles to like her."

"I don't know what he sees –"

"Ugh, I will stab you," Aiden threatened Ivan. Then he caught on to what Jason said. "Wait, what?"

"Tom likes her." Jason deadpanned.

"Tom?" Aiden asked. "Who is Tom?"

"So you can assassinate him?" Ivan cackled devilishly. He was enjoying this _so_ much. Piper was going to have to find a way to put him in his place.

Aiden aimed another death glare at Ivan. "For the last time, would you _shut up?_"

"Tom as in Tom Riddle," Nico said. "Your good ole granddaddy? Dark lord supreme? Easily riled eleven year old? Is terrified of mosquito hawks? Ringing any bells?

The twins turned pale. "You're messing with _Tom Riddle's_ life?"

Now Piper felt like shifting around. "Well, it was the only time rupture we could reach with Katelle's help . . ."

"_Tom Riddle?_" Ivan asked again. "Well, it certainly explains a few things."

"Like what?" Piper asked.

"Nothing important," Aiden grumbled. "You're messing with Voldemort's childhood."

For some reason, Piper felt like defending Tom. "He's only a kid. And he's actually not a bad kid, if you get past his quirks."

"You mean the quirks that made him a dark lord?" Ivan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't even know how he turned into a dark lord," Piper admitted. "He seems . . . well, a little reclusive, and not used to having people care about him, but all in all he's not a bad kid. He just needed guidance, I think."

Aiden snorted, "_How to Not Be an Evil Dark Lord 101_. I can see it."

Ivan shook his head. "We can't worry about that right now. The time rupture has been fixed here, which means the anomaly to the next time will be closing soon."

"Like how soon?" Nico asked. They were at least a half mile's walk from the anomaly.

"Like . . . now." Ivan held up a little square device that looked like a miniature version of Katelle's ADD. "It's gone."

Aiden looked over his shoulder. "Are you kidding? It was going strong only a few seconds ago!"

"I don't know," Ivan mumbled, shaking the device. "But it's closed."

"We're stuck here?" Piper asked in shock. "Like, actually stuck here?"

"Don't panic," Aiden said, holding out his hand in a 'calm down' gesture. "We've been stuck in the Cretaceous – and a bunch of other places – before. The anomaly will open again."

Ivan shoved the device into one of the many belt pockets he had. "The hardest part is getting to a time that has a rupture in it."

"Huh?" Jason looked completely baffled.

Piper shook her head. Jason was having a Percy moment. The thought of Percy sent of wave of worry through her. "Can that thing pick all anomalies within . . . I don't know, planet distance?"

Ivan snorted as if what she said amused him. "No, it only shows within a ten mile radius. It does that so that we're not teased by the other anomalies opening up around the planet."

"Were there any other anomalies?" She asked.

"No, why?"

She sighed. "We're here because Katelle, Percy, Tom, Annabeth and Theon disappeared into this anomaly. Katelle said she thought there was another one open in this time, which was allowing creatures –"

"From the future to get into the past, and then into the 30's," Ivan sighed. "Of course."

"I am so sick of time travel," Aiden said, throwing his hands in the air. He turned around, massaging his forehead. Then he turned back around and blurted, "we could try to open one!"

Ivan looked at him as if he had grown two heads. "That it. Now I _know_ the desert got to you."

"No!" Aiden protested. "Remember what Helen Cutter did – don't ask, it's a long story – when she had that thing?"

Ivan pulled the device out again. "She opened an anomaly. But we don't know how to do that!"

Aiden gave him a flat look. "Uh huh. And since when have we stopped figuring stuff out ourselves?"

Ivan gave the device a critical look. "True. And the controls seem fairly to the point . . . If I could take it apart without ruining it, then I –"

"Great!" Jason said cheerfully. "You can figure it out in your head, right? Because my head's hurting enough as it is, let alone listening to technical things about technology."

Piper sighed. Jason was turning into Percy more and more every day.

Ivan looked around at the sky. "I'm just worried about the asteroid . . ."

"The _what?_" Nico asked. He had been standing there, staring at Ivan and Aiden's missing fingers, before falling into his usual listening silence.

"You know," Aiden said casually, "The asteroid that almost wipes out all life on Earth?"

"What about it?" Piper asked, a bit nervously.

"Well, if this thing is right," Ivan said, shaking the device like a TV remote, "then we landed at around the time the asteroid struck Earth. There's speculation and debates on the actual year – this takes place in the future, by the way – but they can't confirm it other than this one-hundred year radius."

Jason relaxed. "That's good, right? I mean, a hundred years is a large span of time."

Aiden bit his lip, cringing. "I don't know . . . we're kind of in the last five years of that one hundred year radius."

" . . . Oh."

"Yeah."

Nico clapped his hands. "I guess that means you guys need to start figuring that thing out!"

They stood there in silence for a few awkward moments while the twins part tried to figure out the device, part fought over it. They didn't seem to be getting anywhere. From what Piper could tell from their muttering, they had discovered the device in the future and snatched it without thinking about trying to find an instruction manual in their haste. Something about police and twins being illegal.

Piper shivered as a breeze passed through the forest. In the sun, she had been warm, but it was much colder in the forest. Maybe it was just that she was frightened, since she was stuck in a time before even the first humans had walked the Earth. With the exception of the twins, Nico and Jason, she was utterly alone. Her _dad_ wouldn't be born for several million years! What if they changed something back in this time, which completely altered the future?

Then she thought of something she hadn't before: they were directly changing Tom Riddle's past. What if they went back, and found out that Ivan and Aiden were never born? Piper hadn't felt so overwhelmed since the battle with Gaea. It seemed like every time they saved the world, it just fell to pot again as soon as they tried to have a little peace.

It was as if Aiden could read her mind. "Don't worry about Riddle's future and stuff. That's already been changed past the point of no return."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Nico asked.

"It means –"

"I can't get it to work!" Ivan snapped irritably.

"Not what I was going to say," Aiden mumbled.

"How the bloody hell did _Helen Cutter_, a deranged psychopath who left her husband for eight years for a tour of the Precambrian Era, figure this out, and I can't?" Ivan shook the device again.

"Who is Helen Cutter?" Jason asked quietly, not wanting to set off the temper of the son of Hades.

Aiden watched his twin with a similar pensive fashion. He shuddered when he heard the name 'Helen Cutter'. "She's not someone you want to meet, that's for sure. She makes Katelle look like a sane newborn puppy."

"That's . . . an interesting image," Jason replied.

During the time they had been talking, the sun had started to dip towards the horizon. Ivan finally shoved the device back into his pocket. "We're going to need get to shelter for the night."

"There's a cave up ahead," Aiden said. "It's a little climb to the opening, but it has a nice view and it offers sufficient protection."

"Don't dinosaurs sleep?" Piper asked as they followed the twins deeper into the forest.

Ivan shrugged. "Some do. Others are more nocturnal. I'm mostly worried about the _pterosaurs."_

"_Pterosaurs?_" Nico raised an eyebrow.

"Think piranhas," Aiden explained, "only with wings. And traveling in packs of hundreds."

"Oh." Evidently, the Cretaceous Period wasn't a very hospitable place.

"Is that how you lost –"

"_No!_" The twins both shouted.

Nico scowled. "I still think you aren't telling the truth."

"To the cave!" Ivan said, swiftly changing the subject.

The scenery didn't change much with the trek. The tall pines rose up into the sky, swaying and groaning in the wind, which was steadily intensifying. The formerly crystal clear blue sky was covered in a gray overcast, signifying that it would probably storm later. The underbrush almost reached Piper's shoulders sometimes, brushing against her chin a few times and making her hope that there were no huge prehistoric insects.

"You should have saw this centipede that Aiden got stung by," Ivan rattled off another story that made Piper cringe. "He was turning purple and blue before we managed to get him to a hospital and they made an antidote with a venom sample."

"You know," Aiden said sulkily, "that was kind of a traumatic experience for me. You could be a little less insensitive."

"He foaming in the mouth," Ivan added cheerfully.

"I did not need to know that," Jason said.

Ivan, Aiden and Jason fell back into silence, absentmindedly hacked at the underbrush as they walked, which made Piper cringe. _Hack_. There goes the Sear's Tower. _Chop._ President George Washington was never born. Okay, so maybe she was being a little dramatic, but she was afraid that they might chop the plant that was discovered in the future, which prevented someone special from finding it and being inspired, which prevented . . .

She decided to stop thinking.

When they finally reached their destination, Piper saw the "small climb" and glared at the twins. It was more like a two-hundred foot cliff-side. Luckily, it was jagged with plenty of hand and footholds, which would make ascent easy. She supposed that after climbing the lava wall at Camp Half-Blood, this shouldn't have been a problem, but she was worried about the _pterosaurs_ that Ivan and Aiden had spoken about on the way to the cave.

"Small climb, huh?" Jason asked.

Aiden grinned and looked up at the cave opening. "It's pretty fun, once you get used to the height."

"Speak for yourself," Ivan muttered.

Nico dissolved into shadows and appeared at the top, inspecting his hands innocently. Jason wrapped his arms around Piper and gently took off into the air. Ignoring the twin's protests, he willed the wind currents to take them up a little quicker. The pressure of the wind was like a geyser under them, pushing them up, but it wasn't very stable. In a few minutes they had risen to the same level as the cave entrance, thankfully without being thrown off by rogue currents.

"Hey!" Aiden shouted, "You're taking all the fun out of it!"

"Only you would be crazy enough to actually like climbing," Nico replied.

Ivan grabbed his brother's arm and they melted into the shadows, similarly to Nico. A second later, they appeared in the cave with Piper, Jason and Nico. Aiden scowled and snapped something in a foreign language. It didn't sound like Russian, which was their favorite language next to English, or ancient Greek. Although, Piper thought it sounded somewhat familiar.

Then it clicked. "Arabic? When did you learn that?"

They gave her a mournful look. "It's amazing what you can do when you're stuck in Syria during the twelfth century, and you want water."

Jason sat down down, his back pressed against the cave wall. A second later he thought better of it, since the harsh stone was unforgiving on his back. Ivan leaned against the wall, his back apparently spared by the thick robes. He pulled out the device and started fiddling with it again, shaking it and flicking the screen.

Piper snorted in amusement. "I don't think shaking it is going to help. You already done that."

"About a hundred times," Jason added for her.

"Have you tried taking the battery out and putting it back in?" Nico suggested offhandedly.

Ivan shot an _are you serious? _look at Nico and said, "you can't just _take the battery_ out of these."

Nico shrugged. "Just saying."

"It won't turn on!" Ivan huffed irritably. "How did –"

Aiden snatched the device from Ivan and pulled a small chip from the bottom, and then put it back it. He handed it back to Ivan, saying, "now try it."

Ivan scowled and tapped the screen, and then his mouth dropped open as the clear glass top half lit up. Aiden couldn't keep the smug smirk off his face, and got a swift punch as a response.

"Can you get it to work?" Piper asked.

Ivan opened his mouth, and then closed it. "Um . . . maybe?"

"Translation," Nico said a bit snidely, "no."

"Where's Leo when you need him," Ivan grumbled as he tapped at the screen.

"85 million years in the future," Aiden deadpanned.

"Rhetorical question," Ivan snapped.

Piper glanced out the cave opening. The sky had gone dark, and the only light was from the device in Ivan's hands. "Maybe you should get some sleep," she suggested. "You might be able to think better in the morning."

Ivan ran a hand through his tangled hair, cringing when he hit a tangle hard. If Piper had a comb on hand, she would have forced them to comb their hair. "I guess . . . I'll take –"

"_I'll_ take the first watch," Aiden said sternly. "Since you're infamous for not waking people up for their turns."

"But –"

"Guys!" Piper called, waving her arms. "How about I take first watch, then Jason then Nico? You two both look like you need a full night's rest."

They looked ready to protest, but Jason jumped in a backed Piper. "She's right. You look like you haven't gotten a full sleep in forever."

They both sat down, leaning against the cave wall. Piper still couldn't get over how hard it was to tell them apart. At least with Fred and George Weasley, or Connor and Travis Stoll, one was taller than the other. Ivan and Aiden were both the _same_ height, both too skinny, and both had the same hair and eye shade. They had always been thin, but the past few months hadn't helped. Piper wondered if it was a son of Hades trait to eventually become as small and pale as a wraith.

Nico had already started to lose his olive complexion, due to the lack of sun in England his outright refusal to do anything outside (example: Quidditch, although Piper didn't blame him for that one). He had been told by many people in the 30's that he needed a haircut, since the shaggy longish style hadn't hit the fashion in that time. Not that Nico was trying to look that way on purpose, he just didn't like to let anyone close enough to give him a haircut.

Piper turned to ask the twins a question about ancient Syria, but found them both passed out on the stone floor. Aiden hugged his sword to his chest, and Ivan was clutching a dagger in his left hand, the device in his right one. She shook her head with a slightly amused smile. So much for her once-in-a-lifetime history lesson of ancient times.

Jason raised his eyebrows at the twins. "I suppose this means it's nighty night time?"

Nico made a grunting noise and closed his eyes, apparently deciding to go to sleep right then and there.

"Go to sleep, Pipes," Jason urged. "I'll wake you in a few hours for the next shift."

Piper would have argued, but she was exhausted. "Sounds good," she said and took off her snowboarding jacket as a pillow for her head.

Unfortunately, sleep for demigods meant dreams.

Piper had hoped, somehow, that she would be spared from dreams for this once, but she had no luck. She should have known that, being stuck in the past – well, even farther in the past – that her dreams would be worse than usual. It seemed like when she really, really wanted no dreams, she ended up getting extra annoying and frightening dreams. This time was no exception.

As soon as she fell asleep, she found herself standing in a gray room. The walls, floor, and ceiling were all cemented, and it was lit by a single light bulb hanging by a chain in the center of the room. There was one door, with no knob, meaning that it only opened from the outside. There were cracks in the floor, and a few random news papers scattered around. A coffee table with two chairs sat under the light bulb.

A cloaked man sat in one chair, and a small girl sat in the other. Despite being bruised, cut, battered and scared, the girl glared fiercely at the man. She had long honey-blond hair braided down her back, with large blue-green eyes. There was something familiar about the way she was glaring at the cloaked man, something that made Piper think of . . .

"Are you ready to tell me?" The cloaked man asked softly.

The girl grabbed her braid, swinging it dangerously. Piper had never seen someone make swinging a braid in a circle deadly looking, but this girl managed it. The heavy-looking stone ring tied in the braid at the end might have helped as well. "What makes you think I'll ever talk?"

The door was pushed open, and a bald man wearing a business suit walked in, whispered something in the cloaked man's ear, and then walked out smoothly.

The cloaked man sat a little taller, leaning across the table menacingly. "I think you might have enough reason to talk sooner than later."

The girl bristled angrily. "What's that supposed to mean, _Draven __Thorne_._" _

"Throwing names around, Mara Sparrow?" The cloaked man, Draven Thorne, asked. There was a smirk in his tone. "You of all people know how dangerous that is."

_Mara Sparrow?_ Did that mean she was related to Katelle in anyway? After Draven Thorne had said it, Piper had immediately seen why Mara seemed so familiar. Her hair and eyes were the same color as Katelle's, and her glare was just as fierce. She was even dressed similarly, in a leather jacket with an empty gun holster on her hip. Katelle had never mentioned anything about family, but then again she never really mentioned anything about her past.

"And you of all people know that I'm not talking." Mara said stubbornly.

Draven tapped long, pale fingers on the table thoughtfully. "I hear reports that your sister was spotted around the sixtieth century."

Mara tensed. "Your point? You could never catch her."

"Yes," Draven was definitely smirking under his heavy hood, "but we never had leverage before."

"My sister isn't one to let sentimentality get in her way," Mara said in a low voice.

"Yes, well, we have help from the inside."

Piper became rigid at the same time as Mara. Help from the inside? Was he suggesting that there was a spy somewhere?

"What are you saying?" Mara hissed. "Stop speaking in riddles!"

Draven laughed, a chilling sound that made Piper's hair stand on end. There was something not right about this man. "But aren't you kind good at those? I would think so, with all the practice you've had over the past several thousand years."

Mara rolled her eyes. "Riddle-translating isn't hereditary."

"No, but the knowledge we seek has been passed down to you." Draven replied, his voice ever low and patient.

"Why are you so adamant on helping them?" Mara burst out, half-rising from her chair in fury. "Don't you remember what they did to your brother?"

Piper didn't know what happened to Draven Thorne's brother, but it sent him over the top. One moment he was calm and collected, the next he was standing and shouting at Mara violently. "_Don't talking about my traitor brother in front of me!"_

"They nearly drove him insane!" Mara snapped. "They banished him to wander though the different eras forever."

"He put himself in that position!" Draven snarled. He pulled out a steel sword hilt and flicked it. A long gleaming blade snapped out, stopping only a few inches from Mara's throat. "He was asking for it."

Mara was gaping at Draven in shock. "You _really _don't care, do you?"

"Why should I?" Draven growled. "Why should I care about this cursed planet, or the universe, or the gods, or anything else?"

Mara gave him a flat look. "A, because you live on this curse planet; B, because you live in this universe; C, because the gods, annoying as they are, kind of keep things running; and D I'm sure there is a logical reason to care about that stuff, too. I mean, chocolate people! If anything, at least save the world for pizza and chocolate!"

Well, there was some difference. Piper was sure Katelle would have said something like "save the world for apple trees and machine guns," but it was close enough.

Draven didn't sound so amused. "You are such a child."

Mara gasped and patted herself, as if she just realized she had a body. Then she said with more sarcasm than Piper thought she had ever heard before, "Really? Thank you! I really needed you to tell me that I was a child, because _clearly_ I couldn't tell myself. You're a lifesaver. I don't know what I'd do without –"

"Oh, shut up!" Draven snapped.

Mara settled back into her chair and kicked her feet up on the table, leaning back with her hands behind her head. "Where were we?"

Yep, definitely related to Katelle.

Draven pressed the tip of his sword into her neck a little more. "I really want to kill you, but unfortunately we need you alive for this to work."

Mara pushed the blade away with one finger, and sat straight again, taking her feet off the table. "I'm telling you –"

"Shush!" Draven suddenly sharply. He slowly turned around. "I believe we have a eavesdropper . . ."

Piper felt a stab of panic. They couldn't see her, right? Of course, people and monsters had talked to her before in dreams, so it wouldn't surprise her if Draven could sense her somehow.

He turned fully around, and Piper could just see the pale bottom half of his face. His robes looked a lot like a Jedi's from Star Wars, only black. She guessed that meant he actually looked like a Sith Lord, then. But that was totally besides the point. He was glaring at her angrily from behind his hood, she was sure.

"Go away, little demigod," Draven said. "I'm sure we'll meet soon enough."

Piper wanted nothing more than for the dream to end, but the Fates decided to tease her and wait until Draven stabbed at her face with his sword. There was a flash of steel, and she gasped and stumbled back, only to fall through the floor. The last thing she saw before her vision went black was Mara's baffled and irritated expression.

"Pipes . . ."

Piper jerked her arm over her face to block the blade. A small part of her brain told her that the only thing she would succeed to do with that was get her arm cut off _and_ her face impaled. Funny enough, the voiced a lot like Annabeth. The daughter of Athena was rubbing off on everyone, Piper thought with amusement.

Jason hovered over her nervously. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Piper replied. She sat up and blinked owlishly. "Did you know Katelle's got a sister?"

* * *

**A/N: Ugggghhhhhhh, this chapter was so hard! I was just staring at the screen for days before I finally finished it. I'm really sorry for taking so long! Next up is going to back at Hogwarts with Leo, Sirius, Frank and Hazel. **

**I hope this chapter wasn't too bad...review if you liked or if there was something wrong! (Besides for grammar. Seriously. I. Am. Not. Reading. This. Again. It's torture enough writing it!)**

**The plot god's name is Top Secret. No one has clearance for it, not even me. Although, if you offer Colonel Jack O'Neill beer, some Chinese food, and a fishing trip, he might tell you. Excuse my nerd moment. **

**Until next time! **


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

**The Legend of Scratlantis**

Sirius stood in the Headmaster's office with Hazel and Leo. In front of them were Hermione, Harry and Ron. Draco stood apart, brooding in the shadows as he usually did. He was still getting over being a reckless Gryffindor, but Harry knew he was secretly enjoying it. Gryffindor was much more laid back than Slytherin, not to mention that they didn't care about wealth and status like many of the Slytherin families.

Than Weasley and Inanni Dolohov had been dragged into the Forbidden Forest by the future Predators, and left when the _utahraptors_ came through the anomaly. Than had seemed unusually calm, considering he had been attack, dragged and nearly eaten by rather terrifying looking monsters. Inanni, on the other hand, had been freaking out the appropriate amount. Still, it didn't make up for the chilling calm on the young Weasley's face.

There hadn't been much they could do after the anomaly closed then inform the professors eight students disappeared into a shiny wind-chime thing. That had ended with them having detention for the rest of the year being in the Forbidden Forest in the first place, and then because several students had been harmed because of it. Harry had to physically restrain himself from saying that they were doing the school a service, and that Than and Inanni would be dead if they hadn't helped, but he decided against it.

Dippet was even more air-headed than Harry initially though. The man couldn't think farther than when he was going to make his next cup of tea. He was blind as a bat, after the bat ran into a wall and was thrown into a room with hundreds and hundreds of moving objects. He didn't care what other people had to say, and he sounded about as smart as Lockhart. No wonder Dumbledore wanted to take over after the old man kicked the bucket. There was about twenty years of idiocy to fix.

"I would like to ask again," Dippet said in his wheezing "I'm about to croak" voice, "why were you in the Forbidden Forest?"

So far Harry had told the truth three times. After that, he started making elaborate stories about why there were there.

Leo was more than happy to contribute for their next story. "You see, your Headmasterness, we were taking a walk, when we heard screams from the woods. That was when we saw a lonely white rabbit clinging to his golden stop watch. We followed him into the Forbidden Forest, because he was going in the direction of the screams, and lo and behold!" Leo waved his hands around, "we fell down a hole and found . . . Scratlantis."

"Scratlantis?" When he received two hard glares, he coughed into his fist. "Ah, yes. Scratlantis."

"There, we feasting on acorns and made golden statues of Scrat." Leo finished seriously, "before returning. Unfortunately, Katelle, Percy and the others were lost in the giant drain in the center of the city."

Dippet looked tired. "I don't know where the Scratlantis came from, but I know Alice in Wonderland when I hear it."

"He knows!" Leo hissed dramatically.

"What shall we do?" Sirius whispered.

"Back up plan?" Leo asked.

"It's too late!" Sirius mock-wailed.

"Children!" Dippet cried. "What happened –"

"Headmaster, if I may," Dumbledore asked serenely.

Dippet nodded reluctantly. "But don't forget who the Headmaster is, Albus."

Dumbledore gave a strained smile, and turned to Leo, Sirius and Harry. "You were in the Forbidden Forest yesterday, correct?"

"Affirmative," Leo said in his "walkie talkie".

Dumbledore held his patience valiantly and continued, "you came across . . . monsters, you said?"

"Yup," Harry said.

"And you saw, quoting what you three said earlier, "a glowing wind chime from Tartarus with wicked shards of glass"?" Dumbledore asked.

Sirius restrained himself from laughing – a humongous feat for him – and said, "yes, Hea – Professor." He slapped himself inwardly. That could have been a huge mistake.

"And Mr Jackson, Miss Chase, Mr Riddle, Miss Sparrow and Mr Azule disappeared into this wind chime?" Dumbledore asked in a voice that was clearly disbelieving. "And then, after, Mr Grace, di Angelo and Miss McLean followed them?"

"Yes, sir," Hazel spoke up. "They went in to find Katelle."

"Why was Katelle the Forbidden Forest in the first place?" Asked Professor Slughorn.

This was were it got difficult. They'd tried telling the professors that there was a shiny, glittering portal that was letting monsters in, but for some reason the adults wouldn't believe them. Apparently there was something about several eleven year olds telling a story about monsters, portals, time travel and other fun stuff that just wasn't believable. Harry guessed he would be doubtful in their shoes as well. But where did they think the other disappeared to? In a tree?

Harry took a deep breath to tell them what happened – again – but Sirius took the liberty of story telling time on himself. "There were monsters attacking the students, like what happened last year. Katelle lead them into the wind chime, and Percy, Annabeth, Tom and Theon followed after her – well, there were followed by a few monsters themselves – to try and get her back. They never came back through."

Several of the professors blinked. Professor Bones, the Herbology professor and Head of Hufflepuff, said, "that's the most serious thing you said this entire time."

Harry closed his eyes. Here it comes.

"It's because I'm Sirius!" Sirius exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

"They fell for that one," Leo muttered.

"Yeah, they did." Sirius snickered.

"Whoever named that child 'Sirius'," Professor Yohanin growled, "ought to be hung."

"I agree!" Sirius said. "My mother's a right jerk."

Dumbledore held up his hands to bring everyone back to topic. "Miss Sparrow went through this wind chime, the others followed her, and they never came out."

"Yes," Harry said impatiently. "How many times are we going to rehash this?"

"We need to get a perimeter set up," Hazel said, her Roman _centurian_ side kicking in. "The anomaly – that's what we've decided to call it – might open again."

"What makes you think that?" Professor Slughorn asked, his beady eyes narrowed. "It seems you children know a lot about these anomalies."

_Uh oh. _Harry thought, _think fast!_

"It's quite obvious, isn't it?" Hermione asked. Several people glanced at her, and she sighed. "Last year, several students were harmed – killed, even! – by creatures no one could identify. The same thing has happened this year."

Harry picked up on what Hermione was saying. "What's we're trying to say is – this has happened before, so it might happen again. We should, I don't know, try to keep a watch out for strange things."

Harry was so very glad he had brilliant friends like Hermione to answer the hard questions. Dippet, however, didn't seem satisfied with their answers. "I still don't think –"

Slughorn frowned and looked at his pocket watch. "Armando, we all have classes to attend. I would like that you would let these children go? The Gryffindors and Slytherins have Potions with me in fifteen."

Dippet scowled at being interrupted again, but nodded hesitantly. "Very well. If anything else . . . unusual happens, be sure to report it to me."

"Yes, Headmaster." Harry said.

As Harry left, he vaguely overheard Dumbledore saying, "Armando, I do believe it would be within our best interests to keep a watch out for Mr di Angelo, when he returns."

"I agree, Albus." Dippet murmured. "He shows inclinations to dark –"

The door slid shut, and their voices were blocked out. Harry followed the others down the corridors of Hogwarts. Ron had been waiting for them outside, since the Professors had already grilled Ron, Allan, Albus, Severus and Frank for information. Since Allan, Albus and Severus hadn't been there during the anomaly situation, they hadn't had much to say on the subject.

Mostly, Severus was swamped by questions from Slughorn about the potions he used and why. Slytherin earned several points after one smallish large lecture, and several demonstrations of exemplary potion working on the spot. Judging by the slightly smug look on Severus's face, he wasn't going to go easy in class just because he was surrounded by children. There was a reason why he was sorted into Slytherin twice.

Albus had smiled pleasantly and offered everyone lemon sherberts. For some reason, he thought that deviating from lemon _drops _to_ sherbert_ would completely separate the habit from the Professor Dumbledore's habit. The redhead couldn't quite understand why the others face palmed – with the exception of Allan – and muttered under their breath.

Allan had been . . . well, Allan. Basically he stood there and answered their questions with "yes" or "no" and the occasional "I don't know anything because I was not present when it happened." Sirius made a mental note to check the guy's emotional capacities and slip some giggle potion in his _sugarless_ tea. The grim animagus wasn't sure that if even he, Marauder extreme, could get Allan to crack under pressure. Even the _junior dark lord_ had a better sense of humor.

The Vulcan wannabe had it coming for him, Sirius promised inwardly.

"So, how did it go?" Ron asked, breaking Sirius from his inner musings.

"Poorly," Harry replied. "I don't think they're going to do anything to cover up the area with the anomaly."

"No risk of causing a massive time line wreck? No apocalyptic mistakes?" Ron asked, only half-joking.

"Worst comes to worst," Leo said with faked seriousness, "we'll have started the legend of Scratlantis."

Ron gave him a baffled look, but before he could ask Frank cut him off.

"But . . ." Frank looked confused. "I thought, after we fixed the problem in one era, we went into another. Wasn't that our "pathway" into another era?"

Harry shrugged. "If it was, we missed it. We can only hope another one opens up soon."

"That also means that Percy, Annabeth, Tom and Theon are there to fix it." Hermione said. "They'll be given another gateway to another era after they fix the problem in Cretaceous."

"And Jason, Piper and Nico," Hazel murmured.

"Cretaceous?" Leo asked. "What is that?"

Hermione sighed. "It's a period of time about 85 million years ago. I wonder how time was disrupted way back then."

Harry dreading to say what he was thinking, but he knew he had to. "I think I might have an idea." Hermione and the others looked at him curiously. "I think it means someone is going through times and deliberately changing things."

"But the possibilities -"

"Are endless," Harry finished for Hermione. "We have no idea of know who, when, where, or what this person is doing or trying to accomplish."

"Whoever they are," Severus drawled, "it is safe to assume they are not of our way of looking at time travel and its rules. We, ultimately, need to treat them as a foe in need of being stopped at all costs."

"I agree with Severus." Albus said gravely. "If only I had my pensieve!"

Harry started to jog down the steps to the dungeons, where their Potions class was. "Why would you need your pensieve?"

"Harry," Albus said wearily, "it is a sad fact that I cannot remember the face of every single student I have taught. If one of the children don't belong, I might not remember."

"We should have brought your pensieve," Harry said with sigh. He stopped at the Potions class door and squared his shoulders. "Prepare for odd looks, people."

He opened the door and walked in quietly. Students looked at him with varying emotions: fear, amusement, confusion, curiosity, and a few others he couldn't quite identify. Than sat in the far corner, much quieter than he had been in the past. Harry sat on the Gryffindor side, with Than to one side, and Leo to the other. Jason was in front of him, and the others were scattered around the room.

Slughorn started his lecture, which Harry immediately drowned out. He turned to Than and muttered softly, "what were you doing in the Forbidden Forest?"

"It's none of you business," Than replied sharply.

"I'm just curious. And worried about your sanity," Harry added jokingly.

"I'm perfectly sane," Than snapped. "_I'm_ not the one who charged into the woods at the slightest whim something was wrong."

"There's a lot of "I'ms" being thrown around over here," Leo whispered. "Well, I'll throw in one of my own: I'm Leo Valdez, Bad Boy Supreme of the McShizzle."

"Of the what?" Than asked, his voice just a little too loud.

"Something you wish to say, Mr Evans?" Slughorn asked politely. "Perhaps you know the properties of figgleweed."

"Of what?" Harry asked, and then mentally slapped himself.

Slughorn smiled, a little patronizingly. "Figgleweed is a plant used in potions for sleeping. It is a muscle relaxant."

Leo snorted. "Better make sure you went to bathroom before taking it."

"That's kind of gross," Than said.

Harry ignored both of them and said, "yes, sir. Muscle relaxant. Got it."

"Can you name any potion figgleweed might be useful in?" Slughorn asked.

What was it with Harry and Potion Masters? Harry racked his brain for information. Something to relax . . . sleep . . . trace . . . "Drought of the Living Dead?" As soon as he said it he wanted to pound his head on the table. It must have been Watch Harry Be Dumb day or something, because everything he said was putting his foot in his mouth.

Slughorn frowned. "Very good. _Very_ good. You must have read up a lot on potions to know such an advanced drought. Ten points to Gryffindor."

Harry could sense Severus grumbling. "Thank you, Professor."

They brewed a potion that was supposed to heal pets. However, if it was brewed wrong it could kill them. Harry was glad Neville wasn't there, since he had a reputation for blowing up his cauldrons. Than went on to brood the entire class, occasionally sending acid looks at Harry and his friends. Harry really wanted to know what got him bent out of shape, so Leo could fix it. He wondered if a mallet or a simple hammer would be needed.

After potions they had Defense Against the Dark Arts with Professor Merryweather.

Harry hadn't been sure what to expect with Merryweather. He seemed cheerful and very knowledgeable – which was enough to make Harry thank his lucky charms – so he was hopeful that he would finally have a half-way descent DADA professor. The last good professor he had was Remus Lupin, but Harry had only been in his third year then. Now that he was older, Harry hoped he would learn some better defense and offense spells.

He came to reality with a metaphorical screeching halt. He was only eleven, in his first year. Harry mentally cursed his terrible luck. First good teacher in years, and he was only in year one.

On top of that, he was worried about his friends in the Cretaceous era. From what he had gleaned from Hermione's college-lecture worthy speech about that era, it was the height of the dinosaurs. While that was pretty awesome on one hand, it was incredibly dangerous on the other. He supposed it could have been much worse. If could have been the era with all the big man-eating insects, although he was sure that there was huge bugs in all of the ancient periods of time.

They had no way of telling if they were alright. Unlike Theon, they weren't given necklaces that had charms to tell them if anyone was injured. It had taken every once of his self-restraint – and a well-aimed glare from Hermione – to keep him from giving into his hero complex and charging into the anomaly after them. Hermione tried to make him feel better by reassuring him about Katelle's and Theon's extensive experience with time travel.

"Mr Evans?"

The voice broke through Harry's conflicted thoughts and made him jump almost a foot off his chair. Leo and Sirius snickered from a few rows away. Harry aimed a glare at them and straightened. "Yes, Professor Merryweather?"

"Would you like to demonstrate the spell?" Came the reply. Was it just Harry's imagination, or was there something teasing about the professor's tone?

"Um . . ." Harry had absolutely no idea what spell Merryweather was talking about. "I – um – I – what was the spell again? I had a hard time pronouncing it."

_Great job,_ Harry thought sarcastically. He was going to have to ask Leo to make a Smack-Harry-On-The-Face machine. _Now they think I'm a moron._

Merryweather smiled patiently. "It's alright, Mr Evans. The spell is _expelliarmus._" He carefully went through how to pronounce it properly, but Harry blocked that out. He had used this spell so many times he lose count.

Harry stood up and raised his wand at the professor, who was waiting for him to shout the spell. "_Expelliarmus!_"

A bright red light flashed out and the professor's wand flew into Harry's hand. Merryweather gave him a look of shock and glee.

_Keep a low profile._ Hermione's voice echoed in his mind.

He definitely needed a Smack-Harry-On-The-Face machine.

"Masterfully done, Mr Evans!" Merryweather exclaimed. "Twenty points to Gryffindor for an excellent display of _expelliarmus!_"

Harry gave a strained smile. Hermione was going to kill him. He could already see her throwing an exasperated glare at him. He sat down, promising himself that he would _not_ attract anymore attention to himself for the rest of the day. He would keep his head down, he wouldn't show off his level of knowledge in first year things, he wouldn't pull any pranks with Sirius and Leo – that one made him sigh sadly – and he would –

What was with Than's glare?

Harry was beginning to wonder if the kid was bipolar or something. He went from cheerfully chattering everyone's ears off, to dealing death by stares in a period of seconds. Maybe Sirius and Leo played a prank of him, and blamed it on Harry. If that was the case, then Harry was complaining. Than was sort of like Colin Creevey, if Colin drank ten cups of coffee in the morning and heard there was a Harry Potter convention happening that day.

Of course, then there was the Mr Hyde half of Than that came out every now and then. The part that would glare and sneer and irritate Harry more than the Doctor Jekyll. Or was it Doctor Jekyll that was bad and Mr Hyde was good? Harry wasn't Hermione, and he always got the two confused. For fear of having to go through a lecture about the book, and also decided to refrain from asking Hermione which was which.

After class was over, Harry piled his books, parchment and ink in his bag and went for the door. As he left, Than grabbed his arm and started to pull him down the hall, in the opposite direction that the green-eyed boy needed to go. Harry was so startled and taken by surprise by Than sudden behavior, he let the smaller boy drag him away a few feet before snapping back to reality and digging his heels in the ground.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked incredulously.

Than glowered at Harry darkly. "Just follow me."

"Uh huh," Harry said with fake seriousness, "sure. I'll do that. I'll just follow some kid that hates my guts to his secret lair where he could kill me however he wants without anyone hearing anything."

Than raised an eyebrow. "You have a wild imagination. And I'm not just 'some kid'."

"Oh?" Harry asked. "Then tell me, who are you?"

Than huffed, stopped moving and crossed his arms. "It's difficult to explain. And you can't tell anyone."

A dark look crossed Harry's face. "I'm not keeping anything from my friends."

Than sneered. "You all think you're so important. You don't even know _half_ of the things that are going on right now. You're so new to this, so _painfully_ obvious, it's sickening."

"So new to _what?_" Harry exclaimed. "Magic? Duh! I just found out –"

"Oh, spare me," Than waved his hand dismissively. "You're acting skills are so bad that I think a five year old could see through it. As I said before: you people are so new to this it's sickening."

Harry could feel a throbbing headache coming on. "So what do you think we are doing? What is so obvious?"

"You're going to mess everything up," Than hissed. "There's a reason that only a select few are chosen to time travel."

Harry froze. Time travel? _How_ had _Than_ guessed they were time travelers? "Wh-what are you talking about?"

Than snorted. "Again I say, you're a terrible actor. You're probably wondering how I guessed. Well, your group's 21st century lingo is a dead giveaway. Not to mention, there's no way that someone as helpless as you could perform a spell as well as you did during class."

"Okay, you caught me!" Harry shouted, raising his hands in there air. "So what? We're stuck here!"

Than shrugged. "I've never been stuck in a certain time for longer then maybe a year or so."

"A _year_ or so?" Harry mumbled, and continued sarcastically, "I feel ever so much better."

"Well, I was a little . . . disoriented." Than sounded like he wanted to say something much different. "I couldn't really think straight. I'm sure that had I been right in the mind, I would have gotten away sooner."

"Gotten away?" Harry asked. When Than didn't offer an explanation, Harry added, "you do know I'm going to tell my friends all of this anyways, right?"

Than's shoulders sagged, as if he had just had a heavy weight placed on them. "Yeah. I figured."

"Are . . . you alright?" Harry asked hesitantly.

An angry look passed over Than's face. "Do I _look _alright?"

"Sorry." Harry said quickly. "What is going on here? Katelle, Theon, even Allan, for all of his weirdness, they act like something bigger is going on. You hinted it earlier."

The other boy leaned against the wall, lazily inspecting his nails. He looked like he didn't have a single care in the world. Harry wasn't fooled. He had seen Katelle go from slumped and defenseless-looking to complete demon in a period of less than a second. If Than was as trained as she was, then he did _not_ want to get in a fight with him, magic or hand-to-hand. Or both.

"Yeah." Than admitted. "There are other things at work. But it's not for your little gang to worry about."

Harry definitely had a headache coming on. "How long is going to take before people realize that keeping me in the dark A, doesn't work; B, just makes things harder for both sides. Oh, and C, irritates me."

Than rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Get over it, golden boy. Just keep an eye out for that Yohanin guy. There's something not right about him."

Harry remembered what Sirius had told him about the professor, and the other woman, Christine Willis. "Uh huh. I'll get right on that."

The smaller boy's eyes narrowed. "You know something I don't."

_Is he psychic or something?_ Harry thought sarcastically. He decided against saying anything out lound.

"You _do,_" Than snapped. "Tell me."

Harry couldn't believe it. The kid out right _refused_ to tell him anything, but he expected Harry to just give him a status report on Yohanin?

"Right, like I'm telling you anything." Harry muttered.

Than rubbed his temples. "What did you tell the professors when Sparrow and the other idiots went missing."

"They aren't idiots! And we told them the truth." When Than's face became deadly calm, and not the good kind of calm, Harry spluttered, "but they didn't believe us! You need to control your temper."

Than rolled his eyes. "Who's talking?"

Harry flushed, realizing his words were a little hypocritical. "Whatever. I'm guessing your under an illusion of some sort?"

Than shrugged. "Of a sort."

"Is Than your real name?" Harry asked.

"What kind of question is that?" Than started to walk down the hall, back towards the Great Hall. "Whatever. Go tell your friends about me, but if you blow my cover . . ." Than's voice trailed off. He leveled a glare at Harry. "I'm not like any monster, or person you've ever fought before."

Than quickly walked away, leaving Harry behind. He supposed that last part was supposed to be a threat, but there had been too much hollow bitterness in his statement.

"Oh, and one more thing," Than called over his shoulder. "Whatever you do, don't let yourself get caught by the scientists alive."

With that cheery recommendation, the embodiment of negativity walked away.

For a second Harry just stood there, trying to reel in his cognitive thoughts. _What just happened._ Than, the bright and cheerful little Gryffindor, was a world-weary time traveler with a chip on his shoulder. One moment he was discussing pranking ideas with Leo and Sirius, then he was going warpath on them. The kid had seemed a little . . . off before, but Harry had just assumed that he had a rough home life, not a rough era life.

He shook his head, clearing the fog from his brain and forcing his limbs to work again. He walked down the corridor outside the DADA class, towards the Great Hall, as slowly as he could without looking strange. He kept himself at that pace so he knew he wouldn't catch up with Than. He had a feeling the younger – or was he older? There was no way to tell – boy wouldn't appreciate Harry's company. And the feeling was entirely mutual.

He wondered if all time travelers were as deranged as Katelle and Than. He could help but also wonder how long it would be before he, and everyone else, was as crazed as them. Even Theon, who seemed to have a limitless source of energy that could fuel the whole world forever, had been terribly drained when they discovered each other.

An idea struck him, freezing him mid-walk. What if traveling through the portals had some kind of side effect? Maybe they drained energy or something. He would have ask Allan. Since Katelle was gone, they had lost their (somewhat) sane source of information about time travel. Honestly, the thought of asking Allan about anything made Harry want to bang his head on the wall. It was like trying to have a debate about human rights with the Womping Willow.

In the Great Hall, Allan was sitting at the Slytherin table, as usual. He looked stiff, emotionless, and robotic, also as usual. If Allan was even the least bit worried about Katelle, who was seemingly his _only_ close friend, he didn't show it. In the past few weeks, he had only grown more and more detached and cold, veering away from any kind of human contact.

There were times that Harry wondered if Allan was human at all.

"So," Harry started awkwardly as he sat down between Severus and Allan. He cast a quick muffling spell, so no one could eavesdrop on their conversation. Well, if they had a conversation. "I have a few questions."

Allan fixed him with an empty stare. Harry supposed it was something.

"I was wondering about the time portals." He blurted out, before Allan could kill him.

The redhead set his fork down calmly. Harry resisted the urge to snort. As if Allan had even been eating – he never seemed to eat anything. "That is a dangerous topic to bring up in such a densely populated area."

"Did you not see the _muffliato?"_ Harry asked. When Allan opened his mouth, he quickly added, "rhetorical question. I wanted to know if there's any side effects to traveling."

Allan frowned slightly – probably the most emotion he had showed the whole time. "Why are you wondering about this now?"

Like he said. It was like talking to the Womping Willow.

"I'm curious! Theon seemed so – so _drained,_ and Katelle's half-way insane. Than's – well, that's a long story." Harry let out a long stream of curses at himself in his head. There he went, not even five minutes after Than told him his secret, and he was already spilling the beans.

"Theon was drained due to do harsh environments and survivor's guilt," Allan said his border-line monotone. "Katelle is . . . a special case. And Than is a mystery."

Harry blinked in surprise. "You knew about Than?" Ugh, take that back. Harry was completely _not_ surprised. Leave it to Allan to notice something as important as another time traveler (and not a particularly nice one, at that) and no say anything.

"No one asked."

"_No one asked,"_ Harry mimicked, his Gryffindor temper rearing its head. "This is going no where. What do you know about all of this? Traveling, Yohanin, that Willis lady . . . what is going on?"

Allan frowned deeply at his plate, which was a extreme display of emotion for him. "I . . . do not remember. I'm sorry."

"You . . . don't remember?" Harry didn't know whether to laugh or be worried.

"I was rendered . . . incapacitated for a certain length of time." Allan spoke haltingly, as if afraid of telling the truth. "My memory is hazy at best."

"Why didn't you say anything about his before?" Harry asked.

"No –"

"And don't you say "no one asked", that's not a valid excuse." Percy and his friend's bluntness was rubbing off on him more than he thought.

"Hey!"

Harry turned to see Abraxas Malfoy frowning at him.

"What?" Harry asked waspishly.  
"What're you guys talking about that's so secretive?" Abraxas tilted his head in a questioning way.

Abraxas the puppy. Harry almost laughed.

"We were discussing something important." _How did he get past the spell?!_ "The Legend of Scratlantis."

"What's that?" Abraxas was all eyes and big, floppy ears. Yep, he was now hereby dubbed Abraxas the Puppy.

"Well, you see, there's this ancient story about a squirrel, rat hybrid . . ."

* * *

**A/N: So this chapter was re-posted because of a plethora of plot mistakes that just couldn't be ignored. So yeah. **

**Edited 1/09/15 **


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

**The Ghosts of the Past**

Katelle wasn't afraid of the dark.

When she was young, she had learned that fear in general was her enemy. Fear only paralyzed her, making her life harder than need be. Monsters were normal, and once she got past the fact they would _never_ stop stalking her, she stopped feeling totally insane. It made it easier to cope with her abnormalties. Of course, there was the whole "easy and demigod don't mix" problem. Usually, it smacked her on the head, although she had tripped and hit her shin a couple times.

Whatever the case was, it hurt and she didn't like it. Now her childhood fear of darkness was replaced by sleep. She wasn't an insomniac, she could fall sleep – _a__ll too well. _Sadly, sleep typically meant dreams, and dreams meant a rough day ahead. She also wasn't afraid of the dreams. Then again, Katelle didn't dream. No, she had nightmares.

She sat up in the darkness of the bunker, watching her companions vigilantly. Percy and passed almost immediately, and though Annabeth did take a little longer to fall asleep, it wasn't nearly as long as it took Theon. Even so, the kid was sleeping fitfully. Tom tossed and turned, plagued by fever-induced nightmares. A few times he had shot up, muttering about monsters, and then he would collapse again.

Nothing she did would lower his fever. For awhile, it seemed he was recovering, only for him to relapse badly. His fever returned, along with a few other symptoms like not being able to hold down _anything_ they fed him. It seemed he had an allergic reaction to the poison. Well, he could have been allergic to her cure, but there was no way to tell. She wasn't about to experiment on him with the cure, either.

She curled up lip in disgust at the thought. She had had enough of experiments for one life time, thanks.

She rested her head back on the cement wall, holding her gun to her chest like a security blanket. She fought against her eyes, which felt as if they had lead weights attached to them, with sand to add to the discomfort. If only it was physically possible to prop one's eyes open with toothpicks. She would have done it in a heartbeat.

A sharp pain stabbed in her side. She winced, pressing her free hand to her injured abdomen. She lifted her hand up to her face, and even with the darkness she could see the blood. Not to mention the metallic smell was tell-tale. She had hoped it would stop bleeding on its own, but it seemed _everything_ needed to be mothered at the moment.

She had injured herself running from the Predators. One of the quicker ones caught up with her and took a swipe at her side and knocked her over. She had been so close to death at that moment, with the monster hovering over, slavering hungrily. Its claws had been coated in her blood. For so long she had run, beat the odds, rubbed her good luck in Death's face, and at that moment it all tumbled down around her.

She had survived by pure chance. _Someone_ had wanted her alive at that moment. The sound of a horn blowing off echoed in her memory, and the faint shadow the Predator turned away in her mind's eyes, distracted. She had stolen that moment to escape, where she eventually found the bunker and changed into her animagus form. The _velociraptor_ could heal itself faster than humans, plus the wound shifted to let severe area.

Another flash of pain hit her. She pulled off her jacket and – painstakingly – peeled back the part of her shirt that was . . . ugh, it was disgusting. There was a _reason_ she wasn't a freaking doctor! She slathered some of the healing paste on it whipped her shirt back down, slipping back into her precious leather jacket.

Maybe if she just ignored the wound, it would disappear. Out of sight, out of mind . . . she didn't even realize it when she drifted off.

The room was open and spacious, huge windows and glossed floors.

Katelle sat at a long redwood table, her feet kicked up. She was dressed differently that in reality, with camo cargo pants, a black tank top, a leather jacket (she would _never_ part with her jacket) and combat boots. Her silver knife was out in the open, strapped to the outside of her boot. There was a katana sword on the table in front of her, its curved blade gleaming silver.

There were three other people in the room, randomly sitting around the table. She knew them well, since they had been her friends since the very beginning.

Acer Finch, who lay across the table covering his ears and singing – badly – had white-blonde hair, as pale as Draco's, and similarly pale skin. His eyes were brilliant violet, and flashing with wild humor as the others yelled at him to shut up. He was the class clown, the one who would put red Kool-Aid in the shower heads, bleach in the shampoo, and yellow hair dye in the conditioner. Or he would leave the milk carton just _slightly_ full, so there was about a single gulp left, or leave one scoop of ice cream in the carton. . .

She missed him.

Sitting closest to Katelle was Acer's sister, Arianne, who looked almost exactly like her brother, only with darker hair. She had her nose buried in a book, with ear buds blasting music to drown out her brother's antics. The was book was _The Iliad,_ and for some mysterious reason Katelle – and everyone else – would never understand, she was trying to memorize it. So far, she had memorized the first "chapter" of the book, which she was mouthing as she read the words. That girl was insane.

Last was Allan. He was different, freer. He was _smiling._ Katelle hadn't seen Allan smile in . . . a long time. His auburn hair was curlier, as if reacting to his good mood, and his brown eyes were filled with amusement and he tackled Acer, ensuing a friendly wresting match between the two boys. He wasn't so pale, the tell-tale glow from the tropical country he hailed from hadn't been bleached away yet.

For a second, everything remained silent, and Katelle could only read their lips and guess what they were saying. She knew them so well, though, she didn't have to hear what they were saying. Although, even if it was a dream, what she wouldn't give to hear them laugh just one more time . . .

"Yo, Caterwaul!" Acer's voice pierced through her mental fog. "What's goin' on in that thick skull of yours?"

_Does he even know what a caterwaul is?_ Katelle though with a faint smile.

Arianne lifted her head from her book, hearing Acer. Apparently the music wasn't as loud as Katelle thought. Then again, Acer was loud enough to out-shout a sonic boom. "You probably don't want to know what she's thinking."

Katelle felt the small smile widen on her face before she could stop it. _Why_ did she have to have these dreams? It was like mental torture! She knew it was only a matter of time before it took a severe turn.

"Ace!" Allan choked from the ground. "Killing me!"

"Oh!" Acer leapt off the redhead with a grin. "Whoops. Sorry!"

"You could at least _try_ to sound sincere," Allan muttered.

"Everyone has so much fun hitting you though," Katelle threw out before she could stop herself. "I know, because I do it all the time."

"Oh, yeah you do," Acer snickered.

"I'll kill you," Katelle said without much seriousness.

"Uh huh, sure." Acer tossed himself on the table again. "So, when are you going to save us?"

"Huh?" Katelle felt despair crawling at her. Here it goes again.

"You know," Arianne said flippantly. "Come to your senses? See the light? Pull yourself together and bust us outta here."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Katelle growled.

"You're lost!" Acer exclaimed. "You need to get back home. We're waiting, you know. We aren't dead."

Tears were burning in her eyes. She choked them back, a promise she had made years before forcing her to shove back her emotions. That was before she lost her best friends to a fate worse than death. And as melodramatic as that sounded, it was true.

"Remember?" Arianne asked. "You promised. You said you'd come back. You _told_ us wouldn't leave us in the hands on those mad men."

"I know!" Katelle shot to her feet. "I had no choice, there was –"

She gasped and doubled over, as her breath suddenly flew her lungs. She like she'd been punched in the gut as the dream turned fuzzy. For a second her vision faded, so all she was aware of was the sound of her heart beat and the steadily rising panic in her chest. She had felt so handicapped since . . . since . . . She didn't want to think about it.

Suddenly her vision cleared, and she immediately wished it hadn't. She knew _exactly_ where she was, and it was the bane of her life.

The pure malevolence of the place made her wish she could curl into a ball and disappear forever. Disappearing was something she had considered many times before. After she fulfilled all of her impossible promises, she could just vanish off the face of the earth and from time itself. No one assumed she felt like that when they saw her – they couldn't see farther than the well-crafted mask she donned daily.

She remembered her time in that room. Memories flew unbidden to her mind's eye, which only served to deepen her distress. That was the time that she was known not by a name, but by a number. She was merely one component out of the entire circuit, used for the amusement and greed of business dealers and scientists. She didn't even know what changes they had done, or even half of the stuff they jabbed in her arm, but she knew it definitely wasn't good.

The room was perfectly square, and there was exactly three hundred white tiled squares on the floor and the ceiling. She knew, because she had been there long enough to count. There were several shelves bolted into the walls, which were covered in research papers, files, and personal scientists' journals. She also knew that they were journals, because she had been nosy enough to read them.

There was an operation table in the center, made of cold steel. There were thick leather straps holding the arms and legs of the victim down, so no matter how hard he fought, it was no use. There was a white sheet covering the bottom half of his body. Random surgical equipment, set there purely for the goal of terrifying the boy, lay around the table.

This was the room Allan and she spent two years of their life in. For two years, mortal and demigod scientists combined poked and prodded them. When she finally escaped with him, he was different. He didn't laugh, or smile. He didn't show emotion. He didn't know how to have fun. She nearly got caught trying to free Acer and Arianne, so she had to escape with only Allan. She didn't know if he resented her for failing to save them.

Even though it was a dream, she could help but feel utterly disgusted. There were fine silvery scars over his stomach and shoulders, too precise to be accidents. She didn't have to think about it too long to figure out that they were made from a scalpel blade, since she had plenty of experience with them herself. Even worse, there was a number tattooed into his shoulder – 104.

Katelle had a similar number on her shoulder, only it was 99. Just a random number, to rub in the fact that they had been no better than lab rats at the time. It had been put there to make them lose their resolve, to disassociate with their humanity. She had been the ultimate stubborn rat and had left a number on the next scientist who got next to her after that.

She was hand-cuffed from then on.

She fell to her knees next to the operation table, letting her forehead rest on the edge of the table. Would Acer and Arianne hate her for being an utter failure? Would they blame her for whatever they had to go through? She wouldn't be surprised in the least if they were angry at her. She had promised she would save them, but that had been two years ago. Two years was a long time, even for someone like Acer.

She stood up, but when she looked at the table, it wasn't Allan she saw. The mop of shoulder-length auburn hair was replaced by long honey colored hair. The braid fell over the side of the table, a large, stone ring tied at the bottom. Her vibrant blue eyes were closed, and her normally healthily tanned skin was pale. Her face had lost a lot of its youth, looking gaunt and drawn, even in sleep. She was wearing the jacket Katelle got her for her eleventh birthday.

Katelle gasped, gripping the edge of the table. _Her sister was on the operating table._ She knew it was dream, but she could stop herself from undoing the straps and propping her little sister up, willing her to wake. Mara Sparrow said nothing, not even responding when Katelle gently tugged her braid. Mara hated it when people did that. The last person who tried ended up in the hospital with a life-time lesson to _never_ touch a girl's hair. She was probably in a drug-induced coma.

"It hurts, does it not?"

Katelle tensed. She recognized that voice. "Thorne? Draven Thorne?"

"Ah, so you remember me." A cloaked figure walked in front of her. There was a sickeningly amused smirk showing on the bottom half of his face, which wasn't covered by his hood. From the little she could see, he was deathly pale and probably thin as a scarecrow. "I was afraid I'd slipped your mind."

"Uh huh," Katelle snapped. "What's my sister doing here?"

"We needed . . . well, that's not important." Draven smirked again, as if the situation was incredibly hilarious. "You see, we need you here. If you don't come here, I lift my foot off the scientists' lab coats."

"If I find a _scratch_ on her –"

"She will not be harmed," Draven said lazily. "Unless you resist, or do anything else to cause trouble."

"What do you want?" She demanded.

"That would ruin the surprise!" Draven said with a fiendish grin.

_Gods, of all the cliché . . ._ "What crappy sci-fi movies have _you_ been watching?" Katelle asked. "And what did they _do_ to you? Where's your brother?"

The amused expression fled as if it had never been there. "Do not bring up my _brother's_ name!"

"I didn't say him name," Katelle grumbled.

"I will kill you in the most painful ways –"  
"You abducted my sister, dragged me from a _perfectly_ good dream, just to tell me you want to kill me?" She groaned, rubbing her temples wearily. "I already knew that! That's like taking up a whole class just going over the fact that math is mental abuse!"

"You are hopeless." Draven said with disbelieving shock. "You're such a waste of space. I'd really like to know what my master wants with you, because _I_ think you should just be put down."

"So you have a master?" Katelle lifted an eyebrow. "Care elaborating his – or is it a her? – name to me?"

"I'll pass," Draven sneered.

They fell into silence. Katelle stared at her sister. She was torn: part of her needed to help out Percy, Harry and their friends, and part of her needed to help her sister. She couldn't do them both! If Draven's_ master_ was as sadistic as Draven himself, then she would be walking into certain death. Probably certain_ painful_ death. There was no way out of this mess, she either helped one side and her sister died, or she helped her sister and that other side didn't have someone to keep them from dying . . .

Then it hit her. She _did_ have some back up! Twin back ups, actually, and they were related to a certain Shrimp.

"What do you want me to do?"

Percy woke with a start. _Boy_ was that a strange dream! He was pretty sure that was one of those "your brain is doing its thing" dreams. Either that, or by the end of this adventure, they'd all be dressed up as Alice in Wonderland characters, acting out parts of the movie. He wasn't sure if he was insulted or flattered that he was the Mad Hatter, and Leo made a _terrifying_ Cheshire Cat. Whatever the case, Katelle was the Jaberwaky.

He sat up, and wasn't too shocked to see Katelle already awake. Tom was also awake, but he seemed to less than lucid. Annabeth was stirring, and Theon snapped up almost immediately. He jumped to his feet, grabbed his caduceus-sword, gasping, "where's the ant eater?"

"Uh, I think you were dreaming." Percy said with a grin.

Theon sat down, frowning. "I think you're right."

"What happened?" Tom asked. "I was – there were these _huge_ mosquito hawks, and then I woke up. I glad that wasn't real."

There was an awkward silence, when everyone wondered how to break it to the mosquito-phobic boy that his dream was _very_ real. Their problem was solved when Tom winced, touching his shoulders. Then his eyes widened and scrambled to his feet. "It was real! There were huge – huge – _it was real!"_

"Yeah, yeah," Katelle muttered. She seemed to be in a more rotten mood than usual. She stood, swinging a pair of ear buds around in a circle. "So, you remember the plan?"

Percy nodded. She had gone over the plan the night before. They would all set out the Mp3 players – which were more like sound projectors – all around the city, and then turn them on. The devices would let out a very strong frequency, which would practically blow the monster's ear drums out. They would only have about thirty minutes while the Mp3 players worked, because the frequency took up a lot of space and used even more power.

In that time, they would meet up in a large, silver building on the east corner of the city. That was, apparently, where some kind of machinery would be. Hopefully the machine would be their way out of that time. If it didn't work, then they were stuck in the center of a hive of angry super-monsters. Failure wasn't an option.

Annabeth turned the Mp3 player over in her hands. "Where did you get these?"

"Way in the future," Katelle replied. "Or maybe the past, since we're even farther in the future. They were made when the Predator attacks started getting worse and worse."

"I still don't get what cause this." Annabeth sighed.

Katelle was quiet a few moments before saying, "I'm hoping this building will have some answers. If it doesn't . . . well, I'll just have to keep looking."

There was something off with her. Percy wasn't sure exactly what it was, but her eyes seemed a little hollow, as if they had lost their fire. He met Annabeth's concerned gray eyes, and felt reassured that he wasn't the only one noticed. Tom and Theon were as oblivious as ever, but knowing Annabeth, she probably already had a brilliant plan to make Katelle spill whatever was bothering her.

Katelle yanked a rack off one of the shelves, not seeming to care that a ton of supplied went crashing to the floor. She leaned the rack against the wall under the manhole exit to the bunker. After taking a few test steps up the rack, she quickly scaled up and hooked her fingers in the grooves of the manhole lid, sliding it aside.

She lowered herself far enough to peer back inside the bunker at the other occupants. "It's clear. We only have so much time before the next wind storm, though, so we need to hurry."

"Since when do we ever have time?" Tom muttered.

Percy snorted. It seemed the dark-haired kid was picking up on the tragic luck that demigods had.

After Katelle disappeared through the manhole, Percy followed her. Annabeth surfaced after him, which led to a minor argument between Theon and Tom about which of them would go first. Theon ultimately won when he mentioned that he had more experience with time travel, and he knew how to take care of the mosquito creatures. It was a low blow, but it got Theon up the latter – rack – first.

Above ground didn't look much different than it had before. It was just as sandy, ruinous, and dreary as it had been when Percy and the other first ran through the anomaly. Had someone told him only a few weeks before that the world would one day look almost _worse_ that Tartarus, he would have laughed at them. There was no arguing with his eyes, though, and they told him that the world had indeed turned out worse than Tartarus.

Katelle turned around of her heels, facing them. "Okay! So we've got two little kids with us, so I say we go in pairs of two. Annabeth and Theon, because honestly, only you can deal with that kid's energy level. I don't trust him with Percy. They'll probably try to prank the monsters or something."

"Hey!" Percy and Theon protested, Katelle cut them off.

"Tom will go with Percy. I'm more than capable to handle myself. Understood? Good. Get to it!" She jumped over a pile of twisted metal and junk, and disappeared. They stood there a few seconds, blinking in shock.

"Who nominated her as the group leader?" Tom asked sourly. "I'm adding them onto my hit list."

"It makes sense." Annabeth sighed, looking at the silver Mp3 player that the daughter of Kronos had given her a few minutes before.

Percy had his own blue music player, which he was a little sad he was going to have to part with. It looked expensive. Tom glowered at his pink one, while Theon seemed content with gold.

Theon closed his hand around the device, snapping into motion as if he had been jolted. "Well. Me and Annabeth will go in a general _that_ way direction," Theon waved his hand vaguely to his right. "And you guys do whatever."

Percy shrugged. "Whatever. I'll take the east side of the city. We'll meet at that building Katelle was talking about."

"Okay." Annabeth bit her lower lip, and called as she started to walk away with Theon, "be careful, Seaweed Brain!"

It didn't take her long to disappear into the piles of the junk. Percy turned his attention to the sullen Slytherin, who was glaring at him as if to dare him to try to order him around.

"So, Shrimp," Percy said as they picked their way closer to the city. "You still hate seafood? 'Cause I'm pretty sure this is a world-wide thing. No seas for sea food. Maybe you did this in your conquest to end all sea food?"

Tom grimaced as almost hit his head on the pole sticking from a pile of junk metal. "I really do hate the ocean, but I don't hate it _this_ much."

"You hate the ocean, huh?" Percy's eyes narrowed. "That's kind of my dad's turf." _So, he's not a Poseidon kid._

"Sorry," Tom muttered. "Just telling the truth. Not overly fond of heights, either."

Well, that didn't mean anything. Thalia hated heights, but she was still a daughter of Zeus. "Uh . . . you tend to zap people randomly at all?"

Tom looked at him oddly. "Are you trying to figure out who my . . . godly parent is?"

"Yup." Percy said bluntly. "Maybe it's Hecate. You seem to be really good at magic."

"Maybe." Tom frowned. "Isn't Hecate a goddess, though? My mother was mortal, for sure."

"Oh." That ruled out Hecate for sure.

"Do you ever –"

"_Look!_" Tom hissed, pointing though a particularly large mountain of rusted metal. It mostly obscured Percy's view of whatever was beyond it, but there were a few gaps that allowed them to spy through.

They were already in the outskirts of the city, in a long-deserted and crumpling housing development. Percy remembered that Katelle had wanted the Mp3 player to be planted about two miles to the east. She had also instructed them – rather harshly – to run like hades after, as well. She hadn't told them why, though. Percy hoped it didn't mean there was nasty surprises, but with their luck, it would probably end in a demon army attack.

He sighed. If only Hephaestus had built him that army of golden lazer-eyed, acid spitting llamas. That would have been so useful. Not to mention cool.

"Huh?" Tom asked, breaking Percy from his wishful thinking. "AN _acid spitting_ llama? Are you insane?"

Percy realized that he had said all of that out loud. "Uh . . . just forget that. I claim copyrights on the idea anyway."

Tom gave him a look of slight apprehension and concern. "I'm not even going to ask."

"Good."

They traveled in silence for awhile, passing by abadoned and creepy looking houses. The windows were either badly cracked and dirty, or completely smashed out. Most of the doors were broken down, and there were bullet holes riddling the sides of the walls. By all rights, it looked like a war zone that had been annihilated by a bunch of well-aimed missiles. There was no grass, or any other signs of life moving in the houses.

Percy decided he was happy he didn't see any signs of life in the houses, because if there was anything moving in there, it probably wasn't nice. He could just picture evil zombies lurking in the haunted walls held together by termites (if termites even existed anymore). He could also easily imagine those insanely fast monsters that Katelle had run from the day before snarling quietly in the houses, beady eyes analyzing its prey . . .

"Look at that!" Tom exclaimed, making Percy jump and reach for Riptide.

"What?" Percy asked, alarmed.

Tom picked up a square piece of technology. "What's this?"

Percy wasn't sure if he was relieved it wasn't a monster warning, or irritated that Tom had startled him so badly. Because of this, he barely managed to keep the patronization out of his tone when he said, "That's a laptop, Tom."

"What's it do?" Tom asked.

Percy _really_ didn't feel like explaining the advent of the internet and a bunch of other hard questions he knew would be thrown at him by the brainiac boy, so he chose to not feed the flame. "It's a piece of junk. Put it down."

Tom gave him a look that made him seem remarkably like an upset kitten. Percy didn't even know how he managed it, but the son of the sea god felt himself melting. "Ugh, fine! It's a amazing piece of technology that I really miss. It's basically like having all of the information of the world at your fingertips. Want to learn German? There's a free program somewhere on there. A helicopter flight manual? That's there as well."

"What's a helicopter?" Tom asked with wide eyes.

_Curse that kitten look!_ Percy thought. _No wonder he won all the teachers over! One look at that face, and they're all putty for his malicious plans. _It was just like when a cat wanted tuna. There was simply no way one could turn the 'Look' down, even though this person knew they were being horribly manipulated. But surely such a cute and innocent face could think up such dastardly things . . . Then the cat would scratch this person in the face.

Rinse and repeat the next day.

"It's a flying vehicle for transportation." Percy replied. _Wow,_ he thought. _I sounded smart! Annabeth would be proud._

Tom looked down at the laptop. "Do you think it could be fixed?"

Percy looked at him flatly. "That thing is hundreds of years old. My laptops die on average every three months. You be the judge."

Tom gave the laptop an almost sad look, and then set it down with a sigh. "I'll have to procure one of those things from a decent time."

"You get on that," Percy snorted, and kicked over a mailbox, which had been remarkably stayed standing through thousands of years of wind storms. At least until Percy Jackson had showed up, it was.

Tom sighed. "Leave it to you to knock down something that probably been standing for thousands of years."

"Yeah, I kind of have a talent of making things go boom." Percy said with a grin.

Tom frowned. "I don't know. You usually make things go _whoosh_."

Percy's smile didn't fade. "Yeah, well, it comes with the territory."

Tom looked like he was going to say something snide, but he suddenly changed his mind. His blue eyes brightened and he pointed to a tall building a few hundred feet away from them. "Isn't that where Katelle said to put one of the devices?"

"I think so," Percy said.

The building was in good shape for being so old, but it was still covered in bullet holes and things that look suspiciously like claw marks. There were a few rusty, dust-covered cars parked in the parking lot. The entrance didn't have a door, but the shattered glass on the ground was probably what was left of it. The large, elaborate building seemed a little out of place in the neighborhood, which was fairly simple.

As they drew closer, Percy started to notice some strange things. Like recent bullet shells, stirred up dust, and footprints in the dirt covering the inside of the building's floor. The footprints still looked old – there was a layer of dust forming over them – but they were much more recent then the rest of the era. It looked as if someone – or several someones – had been at that place in the last few weeks.

Percy stopped in front of the elevator doors with a sign. There was no way that _that_ was still in order. Tom was already opening the door to the stairs. "Hey!" Percy hissed. "Wait up!"

"She wanted them to be put at the top of the building." Tom looked up at the many, many flights of stairs. "_Why?_"

Percy looked up the stairs with some trepidation. "I'll go first. You stay close behind. We'll be done before you know it."

"We better be," Tom muttered.

* * *

**A/N: Another chapter! (apologies for the cliche chapter title. I'm lacking in creativity today.) I've been so bad with updating as of late...I'm really sorry about that, but it's probably going to be the pattern until I can get everything organized. I hope this chapter wasn't too bad...I'm kind of stressed that this whole story's gone wayward. It might get a little dark at some points (especially when it's Katelle's POV, because she's got one messed up past), but not too bad.**

** Abraxas being hyper and puppy-like is kind of unusual, I know, but there's so many stories portraying him as evil! I know he was Riddle's henchmen, but that doesn't mean he started out evil. Plus, I wanted a puppy character in there, and Abraxas happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and was my victim. **

**I really appreciate reviews as well!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Revenge of the Insects**

Branches whipped by, pushed aside by his hands. Razor-edged leaves left scratches on his forearms and palms, and making him wince in pain. The wetness of the rainforest he was in left his clothes damp, sticking to his form like glue and thoroughly uncomfortable. He didn't even know how many times he had tripped on roots. He was sure that if he fell on his knees again, they were going to run away for fear of their lives.

Theon guessed that they would be in the same boat if they did run away, because he was running from a pack of angry animals. And even with his inhuman speed, he had to worry about Ivan and Aiden. They weren't blessed with his incredible speed, and Ivan had a broken ankle from when he fell out of a tree. It was long story, including bats, spiders, and scary stories. Time for that later.

Over the past months – or at least Theon thought it felt like months – they had changed a lot. Ivan and Aiden had sprouted, and their hair was nearly rat-tail status. Theon's wasn't much better, hanging in tangles around his face. They had discovered quickly that combs were _not_ made in the era they were stuck in. Showers weren't readily available, either. He wasn't even going to go into the state of their cleanliness. If there had been even the slightest access fat on them, it was gone now.

Theon would welcome Skeletor jokes, if he could just find a way back to the 21st century.

They had been making their way through the forest by night, because they figured that most of the animals would be asleep. Well, the forest had been asleep until hurricane Future crashed through it. For all the weeks Theon, Ivan and Aiden had been traveling through time, they still had to work on their level of noise. So far, their total and complete lack of stealth had almost killed them nearly . . . Theon had lost count, to be honest. It was a lot, though.

It wasn't like the twins could blame Theon, though. He was hyper, and he had been holding his wand at the time. One misused word and a spike of energy later, and the explosion that resulted from it probably alerted monsters in the Arctic of their presence. They had been surprised the gods themselves hadn't come to check out what caused the enormous explosion, but so far they were clear. After that, they had tried to continue, only much quieter.

Well, it turned out _giganosaurus_ had much better ears than the gods.

They had nearly died when a pack of thirty of the flesh-eating dinosaurs – that's right, dinosaurs, they were stuck roughly 85 million years in the past – ambushed them with stealth that should have been illegal. They had just managed to survive that unscathed, but the _giganosaurus_ wasn't a predator to be put off. It was game on from that point forward, with Theon, Ivan and Aiden feeling a lot like doomed mice.

Theon peered over his shoulder to check on the twins. They were struggling to keep up, even with Theon slowing to a more manageable speed. Ivan was partially supported by Aiden, his forehead beading with sweat. The son of Hermes had a feeling the ankle was bothering him a lot more than he let on. especially Ivan had only sprained it the day before and they had no ambrosia or nectar to help it heal faster.

Theon jerked to a stop when he nearly plowed into a clearing. Usually, he would had rejoiced to see such a rare occurrence, but it seemed like the perfect place for some random predators to jump out at them. Like, oh, he didn't know, hungry _giganosaurus, _perhaps? A few seconds later, the twins ran into his back, which almost sent him flying into the clearing again. He pushed them back and stumbled a few feet away from the clearing.

"Why are we stopping?" Ivan hissed quietly.

"Clearing," Theon whispered back. "It would be a death trap."

"Can we skirt around?" Aiden asked, his dark green eyes scanning the edges of the clearing. "I don't see anything that looks dangerous."

"Looks can be deceiving," Theon muttered. "There could be a whole paparazzi waiting for us."

"Great," Ivan snapped sarcastically, hopping on one leg to lean on a tree trunk. "I always wanted to get killed by rabid paparazzi!"

"Oh, you're in no pain _at all_," Aiden said with a smirk.

"Shut up," his twin grumbled back.

Theon's mind raced as fast as he could run. There was no way they would all make it across the clearing – Ivan's ankle was testimony to that. There were probably an entire pack of _giganosaurus_ circling the opening, waiting for their delicious prey to crash out of the forest into their trap. The dinosaurs were a lot smarter than a lot of people in the 21st century gave them credit for. In fact, just about all the dinosaurs bar some herbivores and the _carnotaurus _– a carnivorous dino that liked to bull-charge its prey – were as smart as the _velociraptors_ from _Jurassic Park._

"A diversion," he blurted. "I'll run out and distract them. You guys run to the anomaly – the little detection device thingy said it wasn't much farther ahead."

"That's if our demigodish bad luck wasn't making it point in the opposite direction," Aiden mumbled under his breath. He added, "And there's no way we're letting you take on a pack of _giganosaurus_ by yourself. No way."

"Why not?" Theon protested. "I could easily out-run them, and then double back –"

"No offense, but you have a terrible sense of direction," Ivan interrupted. "And if you out-run them, they just start tracking us again."

"What are you going to do?" Theon asked, motioning to the elder twin's ankle. "You can't run on that."

Ivan snorted and rolled his ankle experimentally. "I've had worse than this. If it comes to it, I'll just –"

It was at that moment that a _gigantosaurus_ head crashed through the trees, its jaws open for food. Ivan and Theon dodged the jaws, but they snapped down on something else instead. Aiden rolled away, his arm already bleeding. The _gigantosaurus_ looked young, thank the gods, so the wound wasn't too so, the blood from Aiden's arm would attract predators from miles away.

"My wand!" Aiden held up the severed stick.

They didn't have time to think about that. Ivan shoved Theon in the direction of the anomaly, ignoring his arm. "Go! We'll catch up. If anything happens we'll shadow travel."

Ivan and Aiden ducked into the clearing and shouted, "Hey! Come here, you sticking rotten good-for-nothing absolute pieces of horror on this Earth! You should all be hog-tied with neon pink and thrown down Tartarus and burned forever for the amount of trouble –"

The pack charged at once, and the twins disappeared into the woods. Theon darted in the direction of the anomaly, he heart pounding. Those utter _idiots!_ They were going to get themselves killed, and then Theon was going to have to talk to _Hades_, the god of the _dead_ and explain how his sons were killed. Not to mention Nico . . . oh gods, _Nico._ Theon was almost tempted to turn around and yank the twins back through the anomaly, _G-Rexes_ following or not.

Nico would probably do much worse to him if Theon didn't bring the twins back safely.

Theon crashed through more trees and branches, ignoring the stinging pain from his paper-cut like wounds. He never thought paper cuts hurt that much, but after he had about a thousand of them all over his arms and face, he decided to amend that. They hurt like _hades._ He was sure that all of the scars on his arms were never going to face, the way he was going. It didn't help their favorite past time was reopening. If the gods asked Theon for something after he got back, he was going to ask for paper-cuts to be gone forever.

He suddenly saw the edge of the tree-line, and after that was miles upon miles of rolling hills and desert. That wasn't the thing his eyes fixed on, though. It was the glittering glass-like portal that told him a doorway to another time had opened. He burst recklessly out of the by now much-hated forest, running at the portal. It pulsed it and out heavily, as if it was breathing. The pulses became slower and bigger, and Theon knew it was closing.

He put of a burst of speed, and –

He tripped. His knee smashed into the ground full force before he could brace his forearms against the fall. An explosion of pain erupted in the ligaments around his knee cap, but he forced himself to keep going. There was no way he was going to miss this opportunity to leave the Cretaceous Period. He didn't know where, or what time it would sent him to, but he didn't care. He half-ran, half-limped as fast as could up the hill. Life was literally an uphill battle, it seemed.

The anomaly gave one large pulse, as if it was its last breath, and Theon dove through.

That had been his dream. It was also a memory. He had ended up in London, 1938, just the right time to run into Annabeth, Percy and company on the train to Hogwarts. Theon didn't know what god liked him, but he hoped they continued to grant him little miracles like that. It had been such a relief to run into some old friends after loosing Ivan and Aiden in the Cretaceous. He had promised Nico . . . even though there wasn't much he could do, he had still promised Nico _and_ Hades that he would keep the twins safe.

He wasn't doing a great job so far.

The problems they had been fixing seemed small at first. The random dinosaur in the modern age, or a tourist who wanted to see the Pyramids getting up close and personal the with the Pharaoh – who was living and breath. Theon had a feeling that guy was still in mental therapy over that one. He probably be muttering about Hotep-Ra and a bunch of other mumbo-jumbo for a while.

It had only taken a few days to notice a pattern. The disturbances seemed . . . purposeful. It was as if someone was methodically going from era to era and messing things up. Things had started to change in the furture. Big things. When they had returned to their own year, they found that several things were missing . . . several rather important things.

Like the fact Ivan and Aiden were never born.

* * *

Annabeth sighed as she listened to Theon chat nonstop. It was a wonder they didn't have every monster in the city on them with how loud he was being. He was practically bouncing a foot in the air with every step, hoping ahead of her, spinning around, motioning to different buildings and pointing out landmarks. The kid was wired with so much energy, she was tempted to ask him where he found the espresso beans.

She wanted some, too.

". . . and then I caught the vine – I was so lucky! I could _died_!" Theon said with a grin. "It was so fun! We were swinging from vine to vine like Tarzan. Only Ivan kept almost falling off because the height was killing him."

"Sounds dangerous," Annabeth said dryly.

"Yeah," Theon admitted. "And we almost died. But it seemed like a good idea at the time! I mean, how many people can say that they jumped from tree to tree in the Jurassic Period? Oh! Or got chased by an angry . . ."

And so on.

Annabeth wondered if Theon, Ivan and Aiden's time in the Precambrian era had completely fried their brains. She decided she didn't want to know. If they were certifiably insane, that was fine with her, as long as they didn't bug her too much. However, Theon seemed overly fond of telling stories about his 'adventures' so she figured them leaving her alone was a nigh impossible hope. She would just have to endure.

She inspected the city with sad gray eyes. The tall buildings were covered in a layer of crusting sand that was nearly an inch deep, and most of the windows were cracked or smashed. A few of the apartment buildings had bars over the windows, which were hanging by bent and twisted metal. Whatever had attacked the city, the people had been completely unprepared for.

Annabeth hadn't even realized Theon had stopped moving and talking until she ran into him. He shot her an annoyed look, and raised a finger to his lips. He pointed in front of him, before darting to side to hide behind a flipped over car. Annabeth followed, training her eyes toward whatever Theon had pointed at. She couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, though.

Two people flashed into view. One was a woman with dark hair pulled back into a bun, wearing a business suit that didn't seem to fit in the surrounding at all. There was a large white bag that hung at her side, a single thick strap going over one shoulder, adorned with an insigna that Annabeth couldn't make out from where she was hiding. The woman carried herself with a commanding presence, her clear British accent reaching to Annabeth's and Theon hiding place easily. She glared daggers at her companion, barking orders rudely.

Her companion was military. There wasn't much else unique about him. He wore desert camo, which blended in with the ruined city quite well, and had a rather large machine gun strapped on his chest. His fingers were pressed to an ear piece, his features in a frown as he listened to something the woman said. Or perhaps it was something someone said over the ear piece.

"Who are those people?" Annabeth whispered. She didn't really think Theon knew, but there was no harm in asking.

"People that we try to steer clear of," Theon muttered back. "And I mean avoid like the Black plague. They're not people to get caught up with."

"But who are they?" Annabeth asked again.

"Some kind of agency that watching the anomalies," Theon replied. "There's more than one of them out there, and other are nicer, but she's bad news."

"Who is she?" Annabeth asked.

"Christine Willison," Theon said. "She's cruel, ambitious, and smart to boot. She's from the modern age. She works with some kind of science organization to use the anomalies as an energy source. Or at least, that's what they say."

"What?" Annabeth was having a hard time understanding anything. "Science organization?"

"Yeah, I don't really know much about it." Theon admitted. "Katelle might know more. She's had more than one run-in with scientists. Let's just say, there's some mortals out there that know _way_ more than they should be able to."

"Are you saying that there are mortals . . . who know about the gods?" Annabeth asked.

Theon snorted. "Several. They've got whole agencies devoted to tracking demigods. A lot of the half-bloods who disappear aren't just eaten by monsters. The monsters are just a good cover-story."

"That could be disastrous," Annabeth said.

"No kidding," Theon grumbled under his breath. "They're some of the people we're up against. They're part of the reason the world looks like this. That, and some guy called Draven Thorne."

"You're just now saying this?" Annabeth hissed.

Theon held up his hands in surrender. "Hey! I had a few dreams last night that cleared up several things. But that Thorne guy – he's following some other master. I have no idea who the bloke is, but he can't be nice."

Annabeth peered back over the car. Willison and the military guy had moved along. Theon suddenly let out a sharp intake of breath. "Willison . . . she's probably got one of those anomaly making things. This could be our ticket outta here."

"That easy?" Annabeth asked doubtfully.

"Nah," Theon said with crooked grin. "We'll probably break a few bones and scare the bejeebes out of Shrimpy, but we'll be out of this place."

"But we have no way of informing the others," Annabeth reminded him.

"We can use a Iris message!" Theon suggested.

"In the desert?" Annabeth raised an eyebrow.

"We just need some water." Theon continued.

"In the desert." Annabeth said again.

"We're in a city, not a desert!" He rolled his eyes. "If I can find some mist or something . . ."

"In a ruined city. In the desert," Annabeth said, yet again.

"Ugh, fine!" Theon snapped. "It was a bad plan. I'll just go over there and knock Mr T upside the head and take Free Willy's device so we can make an anomaly and _leave_ this place."

Annabeth ignored the interesting names given to the two travelers. She had learned to after going on so many quests with Percy. "It's a sound plan. We can meet up with Katelle, Percy and Tom at the designated building and be off."

"Yup." Theon agreed. "Katelle'll probably throw a world-class fit in her head about her plan being rendered useless. She'll go off a kill a few innocent furry things and then feel better, though."

Annabeth wasn't sure whether to laugh with Theon, or feel worried for the innocent furry things. "Okay, so how about we –"

"I got Mr T, you take the killer whale," Theon darted out into open toward the two mortals.

"Theon – wait!" Annabeth scrambled around the car, but by the time she reached the two mortals, Theon had knocked out the military man, and Willison. "I see you handled it nicely."

"Just a walk in the park," Theon replied with a grin. He held up a small, clear device. "Here's our golden ticket. Kids, we're goin' to Willy Wonka's." He aimed a glare at the woman. "Just we're leaving Willy behind and taking all the chocolate."

"You're a little messed up in the head," Annabeth informed him.

"I reject your reality and substitute it with my own," Theon quipped.

"Whatever you say," Annabeth shook her head. "Let's go to the rendezvous point."

"Wait a sec . . ." Theon knelt down and grabbed Willison's bag. "I bet there will be something of interest in here."

Annabeth reached for the bag as Theon pulled out a bar chocolate. His eyes lit up. "Sugar!"

"Don't even think about it," she snatched the chocolate from his hand and dumped it back in the bag. "You don't need sugar."

Theon sighed. "You're so cruel. Don't worry, chocolate, I will save you from her evil clutches!"

She shook her head - he wondered why she wouldn't let him have sugar - and resumed their brisk walk, only going in the direction of the building they were all supposed to meet in. She hoped Percy didn't blow something up while she wasn't there with him. Or accidentally knock Tom of a building. Or tick off one of the last remaining gods and get blown to smithereens. Or . . . she could go on all day.

She noticed Theon fingering the necklace again. "You worried about Ivan and Aiden?"

"Huh? Nah, they'll be fine." Theon looked like he was trying to convince himself. "I mean, they're both good at magic, and Aiden caught on to fighting really quickly. Ivan's smart, so he'll keep Aiden from doing anything _too_ stupid . . . I hope."

"Oh."

"Did you know that about . . . uh, five thousand years ago they proposed a cap on kids in families? No more than one kid per family. Ivan and Aiden, who were clearly twins, nearly got arrested." Theon frowned. "We had to make a quick exit from that time. They were out for the twin's heads. Luckily the law only lasted about fifty years. They abolished it after the human population started to decrease."

And that was kind of odd things that Theon randomly spouted out for the entire trip. Apparently the Mayans had tried to use Theon in one of their rituals. It was supposed to be a huge honor, blessed of the gods and so on. What Theon didn't know, was they their 'rituals' involved a dull obsidian knife and his heart on a golden altar.

"I tried to lodge a complaint," Theon said, "because that kind of hospitality wasn't the best. No one seemed to care about the law suit, though."

Annabeth shook her head with a smile.

* * *

"Please! No more!"

"Ne begging, wimp."

"I beg of you! I can't take it anymore!"

"Oh, we're almost there!"

"I'm _dying!_"

"Suck it up!"

"My legs are going to fall off, Percy."

Percy paused, looking down at the dark haired boy. He grinned. "We're only two stories away from the top, Tom."

"You know," Tom panted, "you being . . . the son . . . of Poseidon makes you sea food. I might . . . just add you onto my hit-list."

Percy probably should have been worried. Any normal person would have been. "Whatever. We're almost there."

"You said that ten stories ago!" Ton whined. Yes, _whined._ The Dark Lord Supreme whined.

"Actually, I think it was six, but that's besides the point." Percy paused, waiting for Tom to catch up. "I think you going to attract every monster in existence with all the noise you're making."

"You're one to talk," Tom mumbled.

Percy shook his head. He had quickly found out that magical prodigy did not mean physically fit. Tom had been panting after the second stories. He started groaning after the fifth story, and then five more stories later, and he was complaining non-stop. Even though Tom didn't have much experience with exercise, Percy really didn't think climbing twenty story building was that strenuous. Tom begged the differ. All the time. Constantly. Without end.

Seriously, that kid never ran out of complains. He dad _had_ to be whatever god was the god of complaining.

Percy tried to wipe the smirk off his face as Tom finally caught up with him, but failed miserably. He got a deadly glare as a reward for his efforts, but it was totally worth it. When they got back to camp Half-Blood, Tommy boy was going on an exercise program. Well, that was if he went to Camp Half-Blood. Even so, Percy was going to teach him a thing or two about swordplay. He at least needed to know how to defend himself.

Tom collapsed, leaning against the wall and aiming another baleful glare at Percy. "Slave driver."

"Shrimp."

"Kelp brain."

"Air head."

" . . . That was lame." Tom said with a laugh.

"As soon as we find out who your dad is, I'll have better insults," Percy promised.

"Whatever, _seaweed brain,_" Tom sneered.

Percy bristled, and fought the urge to stuff the kid in a bag and toss him over the railing. He struggled with the urge to continue arguing, since he knew it would get them no where fast. It probably hadn't been the best idea to make Percy and Tom go anywhere together without Annabeth to keep them on track.

"Come on, we're really almost there." Percy encouraged.

Tom picked himself up, scowling. "Fine."

They reached the top of building in a short amount of time. Tom looked a little queasy after looking over the side of the building. The drop was startling to say the least. It was probably good that Thalia wasn't there. She would have been paralyzed. A gust of wind picked up, tossing a few debris across the cement ground. The debris made ominous scraping sounds that set the boys' nerves on edge.

Percy set the Mp3 player up, facing the city. "You better work," he told the device. "I climbed all the way here."

Then the scrapping continued, even after the wind had stopped.

Tom frowned, glaring at Percy. "Are you messing with me?"

"No, why would I do that?" Percy asked.

Tom blinked a few seconds, and then rolled his eyes. "Never mind. It must be noth –"

A loud _bang!_ echoed from under them, effectively silencing Tom. A split-second later, several of the huge mosquito hawk monsters burst through the door to the stairs, their translucent wings thrumming in the air. Long, spindly legs tapped the ground as they moved in closer. Percy could see the long needle-like tongue coming from their mouths, probably used to . . . eat their prey.

Tom had gone ashen. He stood, frozen and transfixed by the monster as they crept closer and closer. Percy slipped Riptide from his pocket, uncapping the pen so it elongated into a Celestial bronze sword. Briefly, the monsters seemed to pause when they saw the bronze. Maybe the glow awakened a long-buried memory of other demigods killing them with similar weapons. The memories didn't seem to bother them, if that was the case.

They sprang, and Percy jumped back, slicing Riptide up so it passed through the monster's abdomen cleanly. It dissolved into sand, scattering on the ground. Two other monster attacked at the same time, while another skirted around behind Percy. Theon had said they were unusually intelligent. He muttered a curse in ancient Greek as he stabbed one mosquito hawk and dodged another.

He vaulted over the monster and slammed the pommel of his sword onto its head, stunning it. He landed in a roll, and soon as he was upright he finished it off. Then twelve more of them flooded onto the building roof through the door, their wings buzzing as some took the air and others stayed on the ground. He paused, wondering how in the world he was going to fight them off, while defending Tom and not get killed all at the same time.

Then he nearly slapped himself. Duh. The Mp3 player.

He ran over the pilon where he had rested the tiny device on and winced, trying to remember Katelle's instructions. Was it the blue button or the red button? Red pill or the blue pill? Argh! He could never remember which was which! If only he had Annabeth's memory. Although, if he had Annabeth's memory should wouldn't have forgotten to turn the thing on in the first place.

Red button.

He looked over at the monster, which dropped to the ground writhing and making strange gurgling sounds. They suddenly took off into the air, thrashing as they flew as far away from the city as their wings could carry them. He let out a sigh of relief as the last monster vacated the roof, leaving nothing but golden sand from the few Percy killed.

Then he looked over the edge of the roof and saw a truly frightening sight. There were hundreds of monsters, bursting out of windows, doors, walls and running down the streets wildly. They all galloped out of the city, screeching in pain and shaking their head as they tried to rid themselves of the sound that Percy and Tom couldn't hear.

Fairly soon, their part of the neighborhood was clear. What a relief.

Percy swiped the cap of Riptide up and touched it to the tip of the blade. It shrank back down into a pen, which he pocketed. Then he turned to Tom, who was still trembling in fear. Percy had never heard of a phobia of mosquito hawks before, but Tom clearly had one. If Percy didn't snap him out of it, he would probably stay catatonic for several minutes.

"Hey!" Percy clicked his fingers in front of Tom's eyes. "They're all gone!"

"Huh?" Tom blinked a few times, and then shook his head. "S-sorry. They were so – so _big._"

Percy felt a twinge of sympathy. Tom was only eleven, after all – a whole year younger than Percy had been when he discovered he was Half-blood. The only thing was, Percy had had environment to toughen him up, and while living in an orphanage in the 1930's wasn't easy, Tom had a pretty sheltered life.

Besides, Percy knew how scary was to go on the first quest. He would never admit it, but he had been terrified for a while before he left. It wasn't so bad once Annabeth and Grover volunteered to come along. And Tom's adventure was a little different than Percy's. At least Percy had gotten to stay in the same time period, in his home country. It was a bit of a "culture" shock.

"What do you say we go been up with Katelle?" Percy suggested. "We're done here."

"Yeah." Tom nodded.

Percy neared the door, looking down the long flights of stairs dubiously. "Don't worry, I'll go first. Shut the door behind you, and that should stop any monsters from getting in."

Tom nodded and shut the door behind him – which creaked a loud, painful screeching noise that grilled Percy's nerves even more than the debris in the wind. The rest of the way down wasn't so bad. No monsters attacked, no loud noises made Percy flinch and Tom stick to the ceiling. Well, once Tom got over his fear from before he started complaining loudly again, but besides for that it was relatively peaceful.

Outside the building, the wind had picked up. "Uh oh," Percy muttered. "Another wind storm?"

"I hope not," Tom replied. "We're no where near the bunker, and I don't know where another one is."

"Let's hope we can get to the rendezvous before the storm picks up too badly," Percy muttered.

Percy broke into a light job, and Tom let out a moan of protest before running to catch up. The building they were all supposed to meet up in was near the center of the city, but that didn't seem too far. Most of the city was out skirting neighborhoods. The central city seemed to be what was once a tourist attraction, with small shops and hotels.

"Hey!"

Percy turned around, to see Annabeth and Theon running after them. A lopsided grin covered his face. "Annabeth!"

They stopped in front of them, and Theon held up a shiny, clear . . . thing. "Our ticket home!"

"Oh, cool!" Percy frowned. "What is it?"

"I dunno what they're called," Theon shrugged. "But they open up anomalies to certain times. This beauty will take us back to 1938, where the other are."

"Great!" Tom exclaimed. "How does it work?"

Theon opened and closed his mouth several times. "Um – well – I used it before . . .Shouldn't be too hard."

Annabeth frowned. "I thought you knew how to use it!"

"I do!" Theon shot back. Then he added, "sorta."

Tom scowled. "What do you mean "sorta"? Do you, or do you not, know how to use the bloody thing?"

"I know how to use it," Theon snapped, "I just don't know how to narrow it down to the time we want to show up in."

"Well that's just brilliant," Tom spat.

"What got him?" Annabeth muttered to Percy.

"Twenty flights of stairs, mosquito hawks and a mile run," Percy answered out of the corner of his mouth.

She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Now you know how the nymphs felt when you first started training at camp."

"I wasn't that bad!" Percy protested, giving her his infamous baby seal eyes.

She was immune. "Yes, you were, seaweed brain."

They turned their attention back to Tom and Theon, who were bickering back and forth. "Honestly," all four of them jumped and spun around. Katelle rolled her eyes, her pack held in one hand, and her silver knife in the other. She sighed and shook her head. "What would you guys do without me?"

"Gee, humility, much?" Theon muttered.

"Not my strong suit," Katelle replied. "Where did you guys get the anomaly device?"

"I nicked it off some military guy." Theon answered. He held up a white bag. "Took this from Willison."

Katelle tensed. "_Willison?_ What is _she_ doing here?"

"Don't ask me," Theon said. He tossed her the back and the device. "I can't make heads or tails of that device. I know how to do the anomaly thing, just not the time."

She nodded, catching the bag and slinging it over her shoulder with her pack. "They can take some getting used to, but it's fairly simple."

She held up the device and pressed the screen. A bright white light shot out of the end of the device, which morphed into a thousand crystalline shards. They circled around, turning into an anomaly that would, hopefully, take them to 1938. The light filled up the street they were on, probably shining like a beacon to any monsters that were in the area.

Percy didn't know if the Mp3 player's sound range covered them, but he didn't want to risk it. He grinned. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

Katelle wasn't smiling. She tossed the device back to Theon and shouldered her pack again. "You guys go ahead. I'll find my way back."

"Are you insane?" Tom asked, beating Percy to the punch.

She glowered. "I have something I need to check out. Willison shouldn't be here, I want to know what she's up to. I'll catch up."

"Are you sure?" Theon asked doubtfully. "This place isn't exactly the epitome of hospitable."

For a second, doubt flashed over her features. Then her emotionless mask slid back into place and she nodded. "I'll be fine. I've survived here before, I can do it again. You guys go, before the anomaly closes."

Percy didn't like it, but they didn't have much of a choice. He really didn't want to stay in this era, and even if he did, Annabeth would stay with him. That would put her in danger, and push Theon towards wanting to stay as well. Then Tom, if he didn't also tag along, would have to go back by himself.

He sighed in defeat. "Alight. Let's go. Be careful, okay?"

She snorted. "I'm always careful."

Theon rose his eyebrows and said sarcastically, "Right. Whatever. Because clearly jumping off buildings _without_ a parachute counts as careful."

Katelle scowled. "I'm not dead yet. Now get!"

Theon shrugged. "Okay. I'm not spending anymore time here than necessary." He darted through the anomaly, Tom following close behind.

Percy looked at Annabeth, and she nodded. She offered Katelle a smile. "We'll see you later."

"Sure," Katelle sounded bored.

Percy and Annabeth walked through the anomaly, shuddering as the cold feeling of shards passed over them. The light faded, and they found themselves in a familiar clearing in a very familiar forest. Theon was dancing around, whooping happily, and Tom just looked happy to be alive. The anomaly jerked behind them, and then closed.

It was early morning, dim light just barely shining through the trees. Percy looked back, feeling a stab of guilt for leaving Katelle behind.

"Well, what do you say we get back to the castle and see what's up?" Theon asked, appearing in front of Percy.

"Okay, sure," Percy agreed.

"See ya!" Theon bolted off in a blur of sandy hair.

* * *

**A/N: I know! I took so long to update! I just had to take a break and let my creative reserves refill. Serious, I was so burnt out. It is _hard_ to write out 5000+ chapters! At least for me it is. But don't worry! I make it a personal commandment of mine to NEVER leave a story unfinished. Ever. There will never be those annoying stories that start out so good, and then just stop because the author didn't continue. ****Those are so annoying!**

**Even if the morrow is barren of promises, nothing shall forestall my return. **

**Ughh, I know my life is a new low if I'm quoting stuff like that above. Comment if you got the reference! There's got to be some gamers reading, ya?**

**I love reviews! So yeah. Review! And sorry again for the wait. (look on the bright side, this chapter was extra long!) **


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

**The Prick of a Thorn**

"_Did you know Katelle's got a sister?"_

Jason wasn't too shocked that Katelle kept the information from them. Getting her to talk about her past was like trying to make gods admit they were wrong about something. It just didn't happen. For all he knew, she had a whole bunch of siblings that lived on another planet somewhere in space. With as odd as she acted sometimes, he wouldn't blink an eye if he found out she was an alien.

"Mara Sparrow," Aiden commented. "About ten years old? She's mouthier than Katelle. She shoots better, too."

Piper paused in whatever she was starting to say. "Wait – she shoots better than Katelle?"

Ivan nodded. "Believe it or not, Katelle's more specialized in swords and hand-to-hand. Hand-to-hand more than swords as well. Her sharpshooting is lacking, to say the least."

"She just carries around a lot of guns because she can't find her sword," Aiden added.

"A katana," Ivan said. "Only saw her with it once before she lost it."

Nico stood, looking out of the cave. "Did you get that thing to work?"

"This?" Ivan held up the anomaly device. "Nope. Can't make heads or tails of it."

"Really?" Aiden whined. "How'd you do it last time?"

"I pressed random buttons," Ivan replied with a sheepish smile.

"Why don't you press the same buttons?"

"It's not that simple."

"So you say."

While the twins were entertaining themselves by arguing, he listened to Piper explain her dream to him. He had conflicted feelings: on one hand, he was tired of having people out to get them, but it was nice to know the face – well, name – of the enemy. Although he was a little nervous about the possibity of mortals being involved in their entire thing. The dream didn't really give out much information about the enemy's plans, but there were mortals.

He really wanted to know why there were mortals joined with the whole thing in the first place. He hoped that didn't mean their world wasn't revealed to the mortals sometime in the future. That would difficult – try impossible – to explain without there being an all-war war. And a war between the gods and all of the mortals wouldn't be good for anyone's health. Not to mention devastating for the planet and human population and little things like that.

"I wonder what it is this Thorne person needs so bad," Jason mumbled.

Piper shrugged. "He was very adamant about getting it, though. Not that Mara said anything worth knowing, other than the fact his brother was apparently hurt somehow. Though I did find out Thorne is highly bipolor."

Jason snorted. "The the classic "irritate them 'till they make a mistake" trick will work on this guy?"

Piper grinned. "I don't know." The smile faded. "But he did sense I was there. And there was something off about the whole thing. I don't think he's a demigod. He's something . . . different."

"Do you think he's a god?" Jason asked.

She shook her head. "No. He was – I don't even know. Powerful. Strange. It's something we've never encountered before."

"Maybe he someone who was brought back by Gaea," Jason suggested. "He just never got sent back."

"That could be it," she said hesitantly, though she didn't look very sure.

Nico sat down next to them, his back to the cave entrance. "What is it?"

"My dream," Piper said. "Ivan, Aiden!" It took them a few seconds to realize she was calling them.

"Yes?" They asked.

"Did you guys ever meet a Draven Thorne?"

Ivan frowned. "Doesn't ring any bells."

"We could have just forgotten him," Aiden said.

"Doubt it," Piper said under her breath. "Oh, well. What's important is that we find Katelle before she does anything reckless. This Thorne guy is holding her sister hostage."

"Mara?" Aiden gave a laugh. "What could have been so important they had to go through all the trouble of catching that imp? She's like a mini devil."

"She's a brat," Ivan huffed.

"You're only saying that because she stole your food." Aiden said, elbowing his brother.

"_I_ need to eat too!" Ivan snapped. "And then she had the _nerve_ to give me that puppy look of hers."

"And it worked," Aiden commented offhandedly.

"Shut up."

Jason could see Piper groaning inwardly as the twins, yet again, strayed off the topic at hand. He tried not to grin, but the effort was wasted. He got a glare from both Piper and Nico for his grin. Obviously they didn't find the situation as hilarious as he did. He supposed it was sort of stupid to feel like being so far in the past (well, being in the past at all) was a funny thing. That didn't stop him from feeling that way, though.

There the twins were, pushing and shoving each other around like nothing was wrong. If someone were to hear their light hearted bantering, they would think it was just another day at the office for them. And Jason had to admit, strange things were kind of their specialty, but that didn't make the whole thing any less funny.

Nico coughed, which made them stop arguing and listen instantly. "We need to get a move-on. We can't stay here forever, with the asteroid problem and all. We need to get back to everyone else before we do something here that messes the future up."

"Yeah, and I'm hungry," Jason added. "Is there any food?"

Piper rolled her eyes and smiled. "Already thinking about your stomach?"

"How can you _not_ be starved?" Jason grumbled.

Ivan picked at his pack, then sighed. "I've got nothing left. We're going to have to hunt for something edible."

Aiden groaned and lay back on the cavern ground. "More roots and bulbs. I promised myself I'd never eat another insect again."

"That is disgusting," Piper muttered.

Ivan looked at his sword with narrowed eyes. "I guess . . . we might be able to make an exception. Partly because I'm also starving. And because I can't stomach another root-and-grub soup."

Jason cringed. "When we get back – we're having hamburgers."

Nico aimed a glare at the son of Zeus. "Are you trying to torture us?"

"Can't I dream?" Jason asked hopefully.

"No." Nico replied shortly.

Ivan pulled Aiden to his feet and shouldered his pack. "We'll look for something small. Hopefully that won't stop the world from spinning."

"Forgetting the vegetarian?" Piper asked, raising her eyebrows.

"There's plenty of trees in the area," Ivan said. "Indulge yourself."

"I heard tree bark is a delicacy among the natives here," Aiden said, smiling all too widely.

She sighed, wondering how good the ferns would taste.

They headed the cave opening. The sun was just rising, sending bright rays of orange and yellow into the horizon. Some low clouds were illuminated bright red. The sky around the clouds looked fluorescent blue-green, contrasted from the warm colors around it. The air was cool and crisp, cleaner than any air Jason had ever breathed before in the modern times. The atmosphere was completely devoid of any kind of pollution.

He had to hand it to the Cretaceous, it was beautiful. It had a sort of primal rage that made it seem unbeatable. He was actually a little sad to think it would end in a few short years because of one asteroid. Or was it an asteroid? A lot of science explained things for mortals that was actually the gods' work. Perhaps it was gods who would bring an end to the age of the dinosaurs and the wildness. He supposed there had to be a reason . . . maybe the dinosaurs weren't as interesting as humans.

Heavy dew hung on the pine needles and made the ground slightly damp. The water seeped into his sneakers, which was thoroughly uncomfortable. There was nothing more miserable than walking for miles in wet socks. What he wouldn't give to have a pair of boots. Now he knew why the twins, Katelle and Allan used combat boots. As soon as they got back, he was buying himself a pair of sturdy boots.

Ivan and Aiden pulled out their swords. Aiden looked at his doubtfully. "I'm not sure how this is going to turn out. These aren't exactly hunting weapons."

"Hopefully we can find something and shadow travel close enough to stab it before it can run," Ivan said.

Nico twisted his ring, letting Tenebris form in his hand. "It's a good idea. And it might actually work."

Jason didn't bother taking out his _gladius_. There was no way he was hunting little animals with his sword without his glasses. "I'll just scare everything away."

"What about the asteroid?" Nico asked, glancing at the sky. "What happens then?"

"We hope to all of our lucky charms that we're not in the area," Aiden said with a snort. "Though it would be kind of cool to watch."

"You're insane," Piper grumbled.

"I'm not arguing," Aiden said with a grin.

"Well," Jason said with a light smile. "You have to admit watching a fireball of epic proportions, sending flaming bits of rock down all over the earth would be a unique experience."

"You're all insane," Piper stated, as if she was reciting a fact.

"I am no –"

"Hey!" Nico held up his hand. "Hear that?"

For a second, Jason didn't hear anything than breathing, the trees moving in the wind, and his own confused thoughts.

Rustling started in the underbrush, the ferns being pushed around as something moved in them. Jason held up his _gladius_, hoping that whatever was in there wouldn't require good eyesight. It was a little dark in the forest, and with how fast the critter was moving, he wouldn't see it until it was on him. The ferns shuffled again, shifting to Jason's right and Piper's left. The daughter of Aphrodite jumped back, holding up her knife and glaring darkly at the ground.

The movement suddenly stilled, whatever it was staying perfectly silent. Aiden motioned to Ivan, who moved around quietly so they were surrounding the creature in the ferns. That gave them high chances of catching, though knowing Jason's luck it would lunge straight at him and he would miss it entirely. He would probably send their future hamburger fleeing into the forest, free to live another day uneaten.

There was a screech, and a streak of red and green zipped up and flew in his face.

Jason yelled, batting at the thing with his _gladius_, but it always flew out of the way just in time. Nico jumped at it, but the creature swerved out of the way neatly. Then it flew around Ivan's head and dove at Aiden, who, like the rest of them, failed miserably to hit the creature. Ivan tried to shadow travel behind it, just to get smacked in the face with its tail. The lizard, bird, demon_ thing_ flew in a few lazy circles above their head.

And just like that, five demigods were defeated by a creature the size of their forearms. The terror flew a few more circles, before dipping lazily and landing on Piper's shoulder. She smiled and scratched its head, laughing a little with the lizard-bird cooed. It splayed colored wings behind it and squawked at them, as if tattling to Piper than the boys were trying to catch it and eat it.

"There goes breakfast." Aiden sighed.

Piper rubbed the lizard-bird's head, smiling again as it leaning into the strokes.

Well, now Jason was depressed for loosing to a lizard on top of being hungry.

"We can find something else, right?" Piper smiled cheerfully.

"Easy for you to say, leaf-eater," Ivan grumbled. "We're going to have to leave the woods. Maybe find of a river or a lake or something. There will be something to eat there. Fish, maybe? You'll eat fish, right?"

Piper made a face.

Aiden also had his objections. "The larger carnivores stalk the rivers and lakes. It would be a huge risk to go looking for food there."

"We're hungry and thirsty," Ivan held up the device. "And until I can get this stupid thing to work, we're stuck here. And when you're stuck this far in the past, risks are something you have to take."

"Yeah, yeah," Aiden muttered. "I call that standard lecture number 104."

"There are 103 other lectures?" Nico asked skeptically.

"Okay, maybe I exaggerated a bit."

"This way," Ivan called. He marched off towards the . . . Jason didn't know what direction it was. North? The elder twin went off in the general "that way" direction.

The forest thickened dramatically before they reached any source of water. The underbrush turned into choking tangles of vines, wrapping around tree trunks and seemingly forming natural traps. Jason had to untangle himself twice, and Piper kept cutting thick vines off from around her arms and ankles. It was as if the jungle was trying to trap them, take them prisoner in its leafy choke hold. The more they fought, the tighter the underbrush tangled them.

This is what Jason imagined a whole forest of Womping Willows would be like.

The ground was wet, water sloshing slightly. They were getting near some kind of water source, but he doubted even an animal dying from dehydration would be desperate enough to come all the way out there for something to drink. He certainly knew _he _wouldn't, if he was in a similar situation. If the jungle didn't turn into an amazing panoramic view of paradise when they left the thick underbrush, he was going to strangle Ivan with one of the vines.

He kicked aside a vine that had wrapped itself around his foot. The vine whipped back and smacked his shin surprisingly hard. His arms were covered in stinging scratches, and his shines probably looked like a Dalmation's back from all the hits it had taken. He hadn't really understood the saying "shins are our furniture detectors" before, but now he definitely did. Or rather, his shins were stick and large rocks detectors.

"Hey, Ivy," Aiden yelled. "Great guiding. You should get a job leading people around. You might even lead someone in front of a moving vehicle."

"Shut up." Ivan muttered. "And what have I said about call –"

"Oh, give it up." Aiden interrupted. "I'm never gonna stop."

"Admit it, Ivan," Nico said with a grimace as he tugged his foot our of a pocket of mud. "We're completely lost."

Ivan scowled. "I'm sure we'll run into something sooner than later."

"As long as that something doesn't try to eat us," Piper said under her breath.

"I don't know why you're complaining," Aiden said. "If anyone is going to get eaten, it's Ivan. He's the one in the front."

"What a comforting thought," the dark-haired boy said sarcastically. "Don't know what I'd do withou –"

There was a crack and the snapping of vines breaking, and Ivan tumbled forward. He let out a shout, grappling for anything to keep himself from falling down the rather long drop that had suddenly opened up. He managed to get hole of a tangle of vines as he fell, which seemed to get longer and fall with him before they jerked taunt, sending him crashing into the cliff face roughly. The vines supported his weight, so he didn't fall to his immediate death.

Aiden and Nico ran to the edge of the cliff, peering over the side. "You alive?" Aiden asked, even though it was clear Ivan was alive, since he was climbing hand-over-hand up the vines.

"No." Ivan shot back irritably. "Deader than a doornail."

"Pity, that." Aiden threw back.

Ivan reached the top of the cliff, pulling himself up after knocking aside Aiden's proffered hand with a scowl. Aiden rolled his eyes. "Someone's in a bad mood."

Nico helped Ivan up, regardless of the latter's display of not wanting help. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Ivan replied.

Jason walked around them and finally got a good look over the cliff. There was a long, thin waterfall tumbling into a clear green pool. A shallow but fairly wide river ran away from the waterfall, winding through the thick forest. The the sides of the river was relatively clear, with some rocks and sand. There was enough room for them to all walk side-by-side comfortably, without being too close to the forest or the river.

It looked like paradise compared to the vines, trees and mud. It seemed Ivan wasn't getting strangled by vines after all, and Jason wasn't too upset about it. They did need him to figure out the anomaly device, and strangling him would probably but a damper in those plans. Although Nico might be able to call his ghost back up . . .

Why was he even following that train of thoughts?

Jason shook his head. "Why don't we follow the river? It's shallow, but there has to be something edible in it."

Piper walked up beside him. The bird-lizard thing from before was still perched on her shoulder like a sentry, keeping watch. She had even named it Phoenix, even though Jason had warned her against naming it. Once you name things, you get attached to them. And they couldn't bring "Phoenix" with them to the future. Jason wasn't too upset about that, either. He didn't know why Piper liked the thing so much, after it had scared them before.

She pursed her lips, her blue-green-brown eyes shining in the sun. "Sounds like a good idea."

Reaching the bottom was easy, since Nico, Ivan and Aiden could all shadow-travel. Jason't didn't like the feeling of passing through the shadows, watching the darkness and bending and twisting around him, but it beat climbing down. He could fly down, but Nico didn't want him to exert too much energy – which made no sense, because Nico was exerting energy transporting them down there, but there was no arguing with Nico di Angelo once he got his mind made up.

The rocks were harsh and jagged, about as welcoming as the rest of the era. There were a few fish swimming around in the clear water, but they didn't seem to understand to meaning of the command "drop dead". They didn't know how to stay still either, so none of them had had much luck stabbing any fish. The only one they had managed to catch was a minnow about two inches long. Aiden's sword had nearly split the poor thing in half.

They walked along the river, occasionally stabbing at the water in hopes of catching something. So far, the fish proved to be lightening bolt fast. Whatever played cat with those fish-mice, Jason didn't want to meet. The game of cat and mouse with those fish had left them incredibly fast, and Jason knew he couldn't run that fast.

Ivan had pulled out the anomaly device, and was squinting at it in the little light streaming in through the canopy. Jason ambled up to him. "Any luck?"

"Nope." Ivan touched the screen, moving a few glowing white lines and bending them around. It looked a lot like a bunch of planetary paths mapped out, only crossed over several times and in irregular oval shapes. "I could open an anomaly at any time, but I can't pinpoint a certain time."

"What do you mean?" Jason asked.

He sighed. "Well, you see, these lines all represent different times. They cross over each other randomly, which is why the anomalies open. All I have to do is press and hold on any given point, and it'll take me to another time. The reason why I don't do that is because we could end up in a much worse place than this."

"Like?"

"The future, or even farther in the past." Ivan said. "I've never seen it, but there was another traveler I ran into once – literally – who told me a story about a really early era where he fell into a nest of huge beetles. These beetles can devour a person faster than piranhas. Imagine that – getting eaten alive by bugs."

"I'd rather not." Jason stated.

"I can't think of a worse death." Ivan continued. "Maybe being used as an insect incubator? But falls in the category of being eaten by bugs."

"TMI." Jason said. A pause. Then, "insect incubator?"

"Be-lieve me," Ivan said with a horrified look, "you _do not_ want to know. Let's just say, that traveler I talked about? He's not alive anymore."

It was Jason's turn to shudder. "I believe you."

Piper took a few quick strides so she was walking evenly with them. "How do you think the others are doing?"

"Katelle and Percy and so on?" Ivan asked. "They're in the future. Katelle's probably already used that computer thing to open up an anomaly and send them to the 30's."

"She knows how to use those?" Jason nodded at the device in Ivan's hand.

"This?" Ivan waved it. "No clue. But the computer thing in the future is a lot easier to use. You can just insert the exact date you want and punch a button. I wish I had one of those, but they're really big."

"Magic?" Nico asked, like _duh?_

"It would also help if we could get our hands on one for longer than two seconds," Aiden admitted. "Last time we saw one, we were running away from police in the future. And let me tell you – they are _mean._"

"Yes – the future is a different place, is it not?" A voice said.

Before Jason could go for his _gladius_, a man wearing black robes and a hooded face walked in front of them. The whole top half of his face was covered, so Jason could only see his chin and smirk. Even so, he was incredibly pale. Slender and almost feminine hands fingered a sword hilt. There was no blade attached to the hilt, but that didn't make Jason relax at all. He had been through enough to know to underestimate anything. Even a sword hilt.

The man seemed to glide across the jagged rocks with unnatural grace, as if he wasn't walking on uneven ground. His smirk widened slightly, and he continued in the same silky tone, "but what would five children know about that? Then again . . . you aren't children, are you?"

There was a light laugh. "Demigods. You all think you own the place."

"Who are you?" Ivan asked, frowning.

Piper drew in a breath. "Draven Thorne," she said in a whisper.

"Ah," said Thorne, taking a few more smooth steps towards them. "Our little eavesdropper? What a pleasure to meet you, daughter of Aphrodite."

"Thorne?" Aiden snorted. "_That's_ Thorne?"

If Thorne was offended by Aiden's incredulity, he didn't show it. He only continued to smirk. "You are not afraid?"

"Uh – no?" Ivan and Aiden said.

"Mm, twins." Thorne said quietly. "They will want to know. Children of Hades. No doubt you are immune to it."

Jason gave a start. They didn't feel it?

Thorne was emanating a darkness that seemed to stifle and mute the atmosphere. It made Jason sleepy and listless. He suddenly didn't feel like fighting anymore. He never _did_ feel like fighting, he just lost his will to fight _at all_. Thorne seemed to make the entire place look and feel like it was made of emptiness. It was something very . . . old. Jason couldn't place it, but it was old. It made him feel like he was looking into a very deep lake. Incomprehensible.

Throne laughed softly again, holding up his hand. Thin tendrils of darkness formed, snaking around his wrist and waving slowly in the air as if it was underwater. He waved his hand in a circle, and the darkness expanded, tinged with streaks of silver and blue. He held the darkness in both hands, smiling as it grew and grew, spreading like a giant black, blue and silver flower. Then it stopped, solidifying into a real flower.

It had a blue stem growing from the rocks, black petals moving slightly in the breeze. Silver dashed across the petels and stem. Thorne smirked at his creation, stepping back as if to admire it from afar. "And so an entire knew plant life is created."

"How did you do that?" Piper asked. She shook herself, as if trying to get rid of the feeling that she was breaking apart. Her very essence, just slipping away and turning into vapor.

"What? Create new life?" Thorne didn't wait for her reply. "It is a power, which I and I alone hold."

"Who are you?" Nico snapped.

"I am Draven Thorne." Throne replied tranquilly.

"Who are you really?" Nico persisted.

"I have, and always will be, Draven Thorne," said Thorne. "Nothing more, nothing less."

Piper let out a groan and slumped over. Jason caught her before she could hit the rocks. "What did you do?" Jason yelled.

"Oh, did she faint?" Thorne smirked. "She didn't last nearly as long as I had thought she would."

"I don't think he's going to tell us anything," Ivan said, drawing his sword at the same time as Aiden did.

"Do you always move in such synchronicity?" Thorne asked with curiosity.

"Why should I answer any of your question when you won't answer ours?" Aiden shot back.

"I should think not," Thorne replied evenly. "But never mind that." He flicked his hilt, and a long silver blade snapped out, bending at a slight slope. Jason had heard of those kinds of swords before. What were they? Katanas?

"Hey!" Ivan gasped. "That's Katelle's katana!"

"This?" Thorne lifted the gleaming blade. "Yes. I had to wrest the blade from her myself. She's caused us a lot of trouble. However, that is not why I am here." He lifted the sword, shifting into a fighting stance. "I am here to fight you."

With that, he lunged at them with speed that wasn't human. Jason barely had time to lift his _gladius_ and block Thorne's strike before the next one came. Then another came, and another, and another. Jason kept backing up, blocking everyone of Thorne's hits just in time. Thorne suddenly changed tactics, spinning around and striking for Jason's back.

There was a clang, and his silver katana bet the Celestial bronze of Katoptris. Piper stood there, looking a little tired, but determined. Jason whirled around and slashed with his _gladius_, hoping Thorne's momentary surprise would pay and let him get a hit in – even though Jason had a sneaking suspicion it would take far more than a _few_ hits to kill Thorne.

Thorne blocked it, kicking Piper away and then blocking Ivan and Aiden's blades at the same time. Thorne pushed them all away, drawing his hand back and letting it fill with tendrils of darkness. He circled his hand, four more identical forms of him appeared from the shadows. They all smirked, darting forward at Jason and Nico, and "shuffling" themselves so neither he nor Nico could make heads or tails of who was the real Thorne and who was a fake.

Jason held off two of them at a time, throwing a bolts of lightening at one while sparring the other one in what was really a one-sided battle. He hated to admit it, but he, Nico, Ivan, Aiden and Piper were all horribly outmatched. It was as if they always knew where Jason was going to hit, and moved to intercept it. Jason lunged to stab one of the Thornes from behind, only to find another silver blade blocking his _gladius_.

Piper was thrown back into the river, and Nico was calling up skeletons. Unfortunately for the son of Hades, there no human skeletons. The only skeletons were a few raptors, a tricertops and one really odd looking dino with a hump on its back and a horn. The twins shadow-traveled from place to place, trying to trick the Thornes long enough to get a good hit in.

None of it worked.

Jason grunted as he held the Imperial Gold weapon above his head, stopping yet another bone-crushing hit. Then the weight drew back.

Thorne held out his hands, and the copies flowed back into his hand as black tendrils of energy. He took a few steps back, not even looking out of breath. Jason glowered furiously, trying to calm his heavy breathing. Piper was dripping wet, and Ivan and Aiden were covered in thin scratches, their clothes ripped. Nico's aviator jacket had a few holes in it, and he looked a little tired from calling up all of the skeletons, on top of shadow-traveling.

Thorne sighed, his hood never moving an inch. "Well, I'd hoped for a better fight, but you did better than I thought, nonetheless."

"You – you were _testing_ us?" Piper stomped out of the river angrily.

"I don't think we passed," Aiden mused.

"P?" Ivan suggested.

"Eh." Aiden frowned. "I was thinking more T, but P works too."

"_What?_" Jason asked, shaking his head.

Thorne smirked again. "The court jesters. Intriguing. I am done here, I afraid. I have a . . . guest to interrogate."

"Katelle." Piper blurted. "You got her, didn't you?"

Thorne's smirk widened. "Clever, aren't you?"

"What'd you do?" She demanded, holding up Katoptris again.

"Hm, I'm afraid we don't have time for a rematch." Thorne pointed up at the sky. "Nature is . . . cutting our encounter short."

A ball of fire and rock tore across the sky, a deep rumbling sound that seemed to start first in Jason's chest, then he recognized with his ears, echoing. It seemed larger than life, roaring through the atmosphere, bursting into fire and ripping apart the peace of that era. The asteroid broke apart into hundreds of pieces, all blazing. It left streaks of smoke and ash across the sky, which slowly widened and filled the sky.

Thorne took a few steps back, flicking the hilt of his sword. The blade sprang back into the hilt, which then disappeared into the folds of his robes. He opened his hands, black tendrils of energy spreading and wrapping around his form. As he slowly sank into the darkness, he smirked and called, "I'd take that portal, if I were you. It might just be your only chance to live."

Then he sank completely in the darkness, which faded away as if it never existed. An anomaly opened up in its place, the crystalline shards spinning through the air, reflecting red from the sky. Jason glared at the offending anomaly, torn. He knew staying would probably be suicide, but he loathed the idea of actually getting help from Thorne.

"We don't have a choice." Piper said.

"I don't like it," replied Nico, scowling.

"None of us do," she sighed.

The glanced at each other, and an unspoken agreement settled over them. They all went through at the same time. As the glass-like shards passed over Jason's skin, he shuddered. They were icy cold, and seemed to cut through his skin without causing pain or leaving a mark. Then a jolt of intense sunlight smack onto his back, warming him to the bone instantly.

They stumbled out of the anomaly in an alleyway, blinking in disoriented shock. There was a man with olive skin standing in front of them, looking terrified. "Uh – mi dispiace, signors, signorina! Mi dispiace!"

Jason opened and closed his mouth several times. Then: "_What?_"

* * *

**A/N: Oh my gods. This chapter was _sooooo_ hard. The hardest yet. I felt pulling my hair out a screaming a few choice words (all of which would get me grounded for life) when the computer crashed and lost a part of the chapter...that sucked.**

**Guest: Oh...crap. That was a HUGE mistake on my part. I missed some things editing. Piper, Jason and Nico aren't there. I'm going to have to fix that. Big time. Sorry! **

**Rosiallete001: If we're talking about the same fishing pond, then I don't their there's any fish in there (sir)...ha, I love Stargate. If that's what you're talking about. **

**I Am Number 10: Do the animation as in draw it? I'm that good of a drawer...But Percy's animagus will come in useful in the future. **

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter! If there's any question you guys want to ask - feel free to ask. And I appreciate all the reviews! I probably would have taken another week to suffer through this chapter if it weren't for them. So review some more!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

**When In Rome . . .**

Nico wanted to face palm when Jason spoke.

He pushed past the son of Jupiter and spoke to the man in Italian. A few questions later – and one very confused mortal – it was clear that, to their surprise, Thorne had actually sent them to the time they needed to be in. He had absolutely no idea _how_ Thorne did it, since they hadn't seen a device or any kind of technology on him. They did wish that Thorne could have sent them somewhere closer to Hogwarts, but Italy was the next best thing.

The man spluttered in Italian, obviously not knowing a word of English. Nico snapped his fingers and willed the Mist to bend to block the man's eyes. He had never been as good at this as Jason or Thalia, but it would be easy enough for Nico to make the man conveniently forget the large crystal portal that appeared and dropped out five teenagers. Even if he remembered, it would make an odd and unbelievable story anyway.

"How are we going to get back?" Piper asked. "It would take to long to walk, obviously. And the date – everyone at the school will know we're missing."

"Yes." Ivan agreed.

"Looks like your school attendance record is taking off at a bad start," Aiden grinned, and got swatted upside his head by Piper.

"Be serious," she admonished.

"Sheesh, didn't you liked Harry's godfather _that_ much," Aiden replied, and ducked to avoid another hit. "Hah!"

Ivan wrapped his arm around Aiden's neck and put him in a chokehold. "That joke was overused a very long time ago!"

Aiden made an odd choking noising and elbowed his brother in the ribs. Ivan stumbled back, glowering. Aiden straightened. "We could always apparate!"

"In a public area?" Nico asked.

"We . . . could shadow-travel." Aiden said.

"In a public area." Nico repeated.

"Fine!" Aiden threw his arms in the air. "I'm outta ideas. You think we can get a train that moves as fast as Hazel's horse?"

"Do I have to remind you what year we're in as well?" Nico asked with a sigh. His bothers could be hopeless sometimes.

Jason jumped in the conversation before Ivan and Aiden started wrestling again. "We could just head for the an unpopulated area and shadow-travel. There's got to plenty of quiet places without any mortals hanging around."

"Whatever we do, we need to do it quickly." Piper said. "The others need to be warned about Thorne."

"What _was_ he?" Jason asked. "I've never fought anything like him!"

"Jason," Ivan replied with slight hesitation. "I'm not sure if you've forgotten, but you're short. Like _really_ short. And you have yet to rebuild you muscle."

Nico looked down at his own form. He was as skinny as he had been when he was a kid – that saying, he was a beanpole. Even so, memories on how to fight made up for it mostly. He only hoped that there was potion to bring him back to his original age, because he did _not_ want to have to live another four years before he hit his growth spurt. It was bad enough living a midget for fourteen years, he didn't want to be short again any longer than necessary.

"What did you use anyway?" Aiden asked.

"Just a de-aging potion," Jason mumbled, looking at his arms, which were a bit lacking in muscle. There was still muscle, since he had been training at Camp Jupiter since he was eleven, but not as much as his sixteen year old body.

"The anomalies will make the potion wear off faster than usual," Ivan informed them. "It would take a few jumps, but the potion will stop working a lot faster if you travel too much."

"Maybe we should jump through a few anomalies," Aiden said with a grin. "You could get rid of the shortness."

Jason glared at him. "When we're done, I'm going to get you back for that."

The smile faltered a second, but came back. "Whatever. You'll never be able to catch me. We'll be – OW!" he glared at Ivan, who'd stomped on his foot.

"Shut up, Aiden," he muttered.

Nico narrowed his eyes. What had that been all about? There was something bothering them – that much was clear – but he didn't know what. He knew better than to confront them here, in front of everyone, so he made it his goal to corner them when they were alone. Preferably without there being any monsters attacking, but with their luck, they wouldn't get a quiet moment. In fact, Nico was waiting for a monster to jump out at any time after that last thought.

"What was that power?" Piper asked. She shook her head. "I've never seen anything like it. He wasn't a god, or a monster, and he wasn't a demigod either. He can't be Mortal! But, where did he get those powers from?"

"I don't know," Ivan said. He was scanning a map of the city they had landed with a frown. "I really don't know a lot of things. We're not involved too much in the actions of the other time travelers. They're a whole bunch of them, and a lot of them are fight off people who are messing up the time line."

"We try to stay away from them," Aiden added. "It's one of those things . . . once you get tangled in it, you can't get back out. It's an eternal struggle."

"Literally," Ivan mumbled. "How's it ever supposed to end when it involves time? Time is endless."

"That's . . . surprisingly deep," Piper said after a few seconds.

"What? Just because we don't like to be philosophical doesn't mean we are capable of it," Aiden huffed.

"Would Katelle know anything? Or Allan?" Jason said.

"No clue," Ivan replied. "She might know a thing or two more, but she's kind of a freelancer. She does her own thing. And Allan . . ."

Aiden made a face. "I'm not sure how much of the guy you've seen, but from what I can tell, he's not really there upstairs."

"He's blank." Nico agreed. "Like . . . he doesn't have a will of his own."

Ivan folded the map haphazardly. "We should just make for the edge of the city. Or find a cluster of trees or something to hide in. Maybe an alley without any Mortals in it. We can shadow-travel from there."

"Right." Nico scanned the crowds hanging around the circular fountain ahead of them from the alley they'd appeared in. "Easier said than done."

"Hey, Nico," Jason said. "What if we run into your younger self?"

Nico froze. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Run like Hades," said Aiden. "And hope he doesn't see your face."

They wandered the streets of what Nico recognized as Rome. It was bittersweet – returning to the ancient city after what happened and the stakes of their last visit. He couldn't help but shudder as he thought about a lot of it. It had been a rough time of his life – namely when he was in that jar, or when he was in Tartarus. During all the time he had been alone. He become used to doing everything by himself. Having friends to aid him along the way was . . . a nice change.

Eventually they stopped the eat – which was difficult since they didn't have any euros and Annabeth wasn't there with her awesome Daedalus laptop (although, last he had heard she lost it in Tartarus). Nico was just beginning to think that for the first time in his life, he was bored. There were no monsters attacking, no gods or goddess with schizophrenia to bother them, and no mysterious strangers with power they shouldn't have toying with them.

It made sense why the Fates chose that moment to strike.

They were headed towards the park they had landed the _Argo II_ in before, when they heard it. The sounds of clattering claws scrabbling on the cobblestone roads made them pause, but they passed it off as a stray dog. There were plenty of those to go around in Rome. Even so, they kept their guard up because honestly – when had they been so lucky that the sound of claws was a stray dog? When the scraps grew louder, heavier and started to head their way, none of them were terribly shocked.

Five large dog-like creatures burst through the crowd, accompanied by shrieks and screams as the people tried to get away from what they probably thought were rabid animals. The dogs, in reality, had a thick, coarse coat of fur with several electric green tentacles sticking out of its back. Its were glowing yellow, and it had slitted pupils. The claws were long and razor sharp, despite clattering loudly on the ground, which should have shaven the sharpness a little. Not with those guys.

The dogs leapt into the air with incredibly agility and three of them crashed in front of us. The other two seemed to fly right over his and Piper's head, and it was only years of living on his own on the streets that gave him the speed and reflex to shadow-travel him and Piper out of harm's way. The dogs landed on empty air, looking confused a second, before turning and lunging at us again.

"What are they?" Jason yelled as he dodged another swipe from the largest dog. It had a third eye on its forehead, which swiveled around like one of those goggling eyes that one could by at the dollar store.

"I've never seen anything like them!" Nico replied, twisting his ring and feeling comforted by the weight of Tenebris in his hand.

Piper swiped her dagger through the leg of one dog, and for a second watched in shock at the wound immediately healed.

"Whatever they are, they're upgrades on the regular old monster!" Jason shouted as he too watched the wound he inflicted heal.

Nico shadow-traveled out of the way again and narrowed his eyes at the beast in front of him. "We're going to have to deliver kill shots."

"Yeah," Ivan agreed. He swung his sword up at the dog's chin, and scowled when it healed. "Like taking its head or something."

Piper grimaced. "Sounds pleasant."

Aiden suddenly gave a shout as a dog swiped his side, leaving a nasty gash on his abdomen. Lucky for him, the dog had over-extended trying to get him, so it gave the son of Hades time to bring his sword down straight through the monster's skull.

The beast twitched, and for a horrible second, Nico thought it was going to heal and come back to life. Then it when limp and dissolved into golden sand. Aiden jumped back barely in time to avoid another monster.

"Survive this!" Jason yelled, and raised his _gladius_ to the sky. The sky darkened, and the air charged with energy. Then a loud _CRACK_ sent Nico's ears ringing, and a flash of light arced down from the sky. The lightning struck the monster through the head, and it dissolved like the one Aiden killed.

Jason stumbled, blinking from using the lighting thing for the second time in one day. Nico rolled under another swipe from a monster, dodging it by a hair's breath. When he came up, he rose his sword straight through the beast's chin and up into its tiny brain. It dissolved into sand, like the others. All over him.

Nico beat the sand off him, shuddering in disgust as he thought that he was covered in the remains of a monster. "Gross."

There were only three more left. The twins moved simultaneously and . . . the monster was minus one head, and Jason and Piper lunged at another. Nico dodged to the side, chopping his Stygian Iron blade on the monster's neck. The wound seemed to take longer to heal than the others, because of the type of metal his blade was. His sword was meant to reap life. Sometimes it paid off to have a Stygian Iron sword.

Then one of the tentacles lashed out, wrapping around Nico's wrist. He yelled – mostly out of shock than pain – and tried to pull away. The tentacle was stretchy, like a elastic, and incredibly durable. He hacked at it with Tenebris, trying to free himself and avoid the monster's wild attacks at the same time. For some reason, the tentacles were even stronger than the monster's skin.

An idea struck him. It was insane, yes, but not as crazy as the other plans he had done . . . he hoped.

He was too far away to hit the monster's head, so he would have to get closer in the only way possible. Up. He jumped straight up, grabbing hold of another tentacle and using it to swing him onto the beast's back. There were two rose of black spines running from the end of the dog's huge head, to the tip of its tail that he hadn't been able to see on the ground. Two more tentacles wrapped around his ankles, which nearly made him fall.

He caught his balance, just in time for the monster to buck. As he was falling forward, he held Tenebris up and slammed it into the monster's head. It fell limp, and then dissolved, returning to Tartarus. And hopefully staying there a few hundred years.

Piper and Jason were breathing heavy, standing in piles of golden sand. She sheathed her dagger, a confused from on her face. "I've never seen anything like that. I wonder what – hey! Look that this!"

She knelt, picking up what looked like a tag. Nico leaned in closer to see it better, and was as confused as her to see what looked like a marker tag. It had a bold number **115** on a plain white piece of thick plastic, with a metal ring.

"How is that possible?" Jason asked.

Ivan and Aiden hovered over their shoulders. "I looks like an identification of some sort. Maybe to keep track of or something."

"But why would a _monster_ have a tag on it?" Piper asked in bewilderment.

Nico swept over the ground with his eyes. There were four other tags. He picked them up and sure enough, the numbers **113, 114 **and **116** were on them. He shook his head and was about to show the others when a flash of movement caught his eye.

Another dog-like monster darted away, following by more screaming people.

"There's another one!" Nico informed them.

"We should follow it," Ivan said, already moving towards where the monster was last seen. "It might lead us to whatever or whoever is marking them."

Nico, Piper and Jason made a split-second decision and nodded. "Okay."

They chased the monster down several streets, and almost lost it on five separate occasions. One of the biggest being when they were accosted by a really, really desperate merchant. Nico almost didn't know how they kept finding the monster – it just seemed to appear. It was as if it wanted to be followed. That thought should have made Nico pause, but in all honesty, he was curious. He wanted to know who was catching monsters and tagging them, and he wanted to know _what_ they were.

The dog swung into a narrow alley, its sides scraping on the walls and tearing off the peeling paint. Its claws scraped on the ground, the tentacles swishing around as if they had a mind of their own. There were a few punctures left in the walls of the alley from the tentacles. Nico absently wondered how the Mist was going to explain claw marks were gouged in brick walls two stories up.

"There!" Jason pointed, where a long electric-green tipped tail whipped around the corner of another passageway.

They cannoned around the corner and were greeted by the sight of a swirling darkness. It filled up the entire alley, swaying around as if it was black seaweed. Nico cautiously approached it, his internal danger alarm ringing like crazy. It wasn't like any darkness Nico had ever sensed before – it was older. Even older the the Earth Mother, perhaps. It seemed wild and deadly, literally buzzing with power that set Nico's already frayed nerves even more on edge.

Suddenly something moved, the darkness stirring as it was literally a living organism. He was about to suggest – shout, actually – that they moved _very_ far away, when an electric green tentacle shot out and wrapped around his ankle, yanking him through the darkness.

If passing through an anomaly was disorienting, it had nothing on the darkness. It made Nico's insides cringe, his skin prickle almost painfully. He couldn't see anything – not his hand, not even the tentacle that dragged him into the mess. He felt suddenly numb, as if his body was finally adjusting to the utter cold blackness. He wasn't sure that was a good sign.

For a moment, Nico thought he was doomed to be dragged through complete darkness forever. Then he burst out, warmth and light seeping into his skin. It was so warm it hurt – his skin tingled painfully, as if he had had mild frostbite over his entire body, and was just now warming up. Spots floated in his sight, blocking his view of anything.

When the shock of going through intense darkness, and then adjusting to the light again passed, he blinked his eyes clear. He was standing in a vast expanse, one side blinding white, the other black. There was a tiny gray area between them. Floating in a constant stream were millions and millions of long golden lights, like wispy glow worms. They flowed around the expanse, dipping up and down, sometimes curling in circles before springing out and continuing its never-ending movement.

"What is this place?" He murmured.

"Nico!"

He whirled around as Jason, Piper, Ivan and Aiden stumbled through the darkness, which was almost impossible to see, since it was on the side of the expanse that was dark. He waved. "Hey."

"What is this place?" Piper asked, gazing at the golden streams.

"No clue." Nico replied.

There was a gasp. It belonged to Ivan, whose hands were flickering golden like the wispy golden stream wrapping around his waist. Aiden looked similarly, his face turning transparent. He waved his hands, looking oddly calm. "I wonder what this means."

Nico looked at his own hands. There was nothing wrong with them. Piper and Jason looked fine and healthy as well. "What's going on? Where's the monster?"

"Not a good sign," Ivan muttered to himself, probably no intending for anyone else to hear.

"What's not a good sign?" Nico asked.

Ivan gave a start and shook his head. "Nothing. Don't worry about it."

"Where are we?" Jason poked at one of the golden wisps. It curled around his finger, and then resumed its course.

"That's a simple question to answer." It was Thorne.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Nico snarled. If he didn't have a reason to hate Thorne already, he certainly did now. "Why are we here? What were those monsters?"

"Hm," Thorne hummed in his light toned voice. "I'd be more worried about them, if I were you. Just a suggestion."

Nico glanced at the twins. They were fading away slowing, their skin getting paler and more transparent. A wave of panic hit him. What if they faded out completely? What would happen? "What's wrong with them?"

Thorne made an amused noise in his throat with a smirk. "Your guess is as good as mine, but I'd say . . . they don't belong here anymore."

"What?" Nico asked angrily. He hated Thorne. He was sure of it now. Thorne was on the Grudge List. "Explain. Yourself."

Thorne raised his hands in a questioning demeanor. "What's there to explain? Although – if you stay here much longer, they'll fade completely, it would seem."

Nico turned to the wall of darkness that brought them there, only to find it gone. "Where is it? What did you do to it?"

"So many questions," Thorne sighed. "I'll give you another way out – take it. Willingly. And _know_ you took the way willingly, for none go in without their own will. But then again, none come out the way they are not."

"_What?_" Aiden blurted, patting himself as he faded frantically. "That's _worse_ than a prophecy – least those rhyme! You sound like a discount Gandhi or something."

Thorne held out his hand, and another anomaly opened. It was easy to see, back-dropped by blackness and golden wispy trails. "It will make sense, in time." He smile was almost dreamy. "Well? I'd make you decision now."

"Can't we just go back to Rome?" Jason asked, giving the portal a reluctant look.

Thorne flicked his wrist, and another portal of darkness opened behind him. "You have mere seconds. I'd make you decision, if I were you."

Then he turned and disappeared through the portal.

Ivan tapped his fingers on the hilt of his sword. "As much as I'd love to sic Cerberus on that guy, he's right. I'm for going through the anomaly – wherever it takes us."

"I concur," Aiden said hurriedly.

Jason cursed in Latin. "We were so close."

Nico strode towards the anomaly until he was nearly inside it. "Yeah. Hopefully we'll have better luck next time."

Better luck. Yeah right, since when did they have good luck?

"Great!" Ivan and Aiden didn't wait around. They practically ran past Nico and dove into the anomaly.

Jason and Piper looked at Nico questioningly. He nodded at them. "Go on."

They looked worried for him, which was a little annoying, yet at the same time relieving. They walked through the portal, the crystal shards swirling a little before settling back into the same slow rotation. Like many things so far, the anomalies were a mystery. From what he had picked up from the gods and other people who knew about them, they were from unbalances in the cosmos or something equally as ridiculous sounding.

Nico had a feeling of intense trepidation. It was the same feeling he had before Bianca went on her first – and last – quest. He wanted to ignore it, but it was impossible. Thorne hadn't given them that portal out of the kindness of his heart. There was another reason why he was willing to "help" them, and Nico was afraid the reason corresponded with his dread. When mysterious cloaked strangers offered help, it was usually for less-than-good intentions.

And then there was the twin's fading. Thorne had said they didn't belong there, but he would have made more sense if had just not spoken at all. Had the twins been shadow-traveling to much? **(********* When he had shadow-traveled around during the battle against Gaea, he had started to fade away because of the amount he exerted himself. *****)** If that had been doing the same, it would explain why they were disappearing. He was going to have a serious talk with them later.

Nico looked out at the expanse, straining his eyes to see a sign of the end. Something was off about the place – besides for the ghostly golden tendrils, and that one side was white and the other was black. It hummed with power, making Nico's own powers start to stir. There were no shadows, but if there were, he knew he would be swathed in darkness.

On the other side of the anomaly, Nico was hit by the modern era.

Well – he wasn't _literally_ hit, but it was a surprise after coming from the Cretaceous era, and then the 1930's. He was standing behind Piper and Jason, who looked as stunned as he did, and maybe a little nervous. He relaxed a bit when he saw Ivan and Aiden, back and whole without a sign that they had been translucent only a few moments before. They were rather calm, giving their former predicament.

Aiden whistled. "I've died and gone to _Star Trek_. Get a load of this."

They were standing it what looked like a lab of some sort. There was a row of screens to the left of Nico, lining the wall. They were lit up with symbols and diagrams of things that gave him a headache to even try to decipher. The rest of the room was filled circular glass tubes going from the ceiling to the floor, with smaller screens attached to each of them. However, it wasn't the tubes that made Jason and Piper nervous, Nico realized. It was what was in them.

There were a few monsters that looked like the ones that attacked them in Rome. There were a few other monsters, including a few telkhines and large sea serpent suspended in water. There was a sea nymph with her hands pressed against the glass, watching them pleadingly. Nico was suddenly glad Percy wasn't there – the son of Poseidon would lose it if he saw all the trapped sea beings in the lab.

"This is awful!" Piper said.

Jason grimaced. "It's like Atlanta."

Atlanta, where Phorcys had had an aquarium and kept a bunch of sea creatures captive. He had gotten in severe trouble for it. The gods had punished him and released the captive sea beings back into the ocean. Whoever was in control of this lab was going to have a similar fate as Phorcys when Percy got his hands on the person.

Nico fiddled with his skull ring. "Whoever is in control of this place is still here. This lab is by no means abandoned."

"Except the only way out is back into that . . . other place," Ivan said, shooting a look at the anomaly, which chose that moment to disappear. "Never mind."

"Hey, what's this?" Aiden asked, pointing at a large green button on a screen, which was attached to a tube with a baby telkhine.

Nico wheeled around, "Don't press any –"

"_Release sequence activated_."

"Buttons."

The tube slid up into the ceiling, and the baby telkhine stumbled out in all its terrifying glory. Then it tripped on its own foot and fell.

"_Why_ did you do that?" Ivan yelled at Aiden. "How many times do I have to tell you – _don't press any buttons_! You get us caught _every – single – time_."

"Sorry." Aiden didn't sound sorry. He knelt by the baby telkhine. "You're just a baby, aren't you?"

The telkhine made a whimpering sound.

Ivan coughed. "Aiden –"

"Don't worry, they won't hurt you," Aiden told the telkhine.

"Aiden you can't –"

"His name is George, people," Aiden said seriously.

Ivan visibly deflated. "Aiden . . . you can't adopt a telkhine."

Jason shook his head in disbelief. "You're going to hug him and call him George?"

Aiden beamed and picked the telkhine up, showing him to the others. "Say no to that face!"

"No." Ivan replied flatly.

"_What_ is going on?" A shrill voice called through the lab.

The five teenagers (well, sort of) whirled around. There was a woman with long brown hair, tied back in a pony tail and brown eyes. She had yellow-rimmed glasses perched on her nose. She wore a long white lab coat over a simple blouse and skirt. She was gaping at them, standing in the door of the labs with a mixture of fear and curiosity in here eyes.

"How did you five get in here?" She gasped.

Piper tried to a smile. "Hello! We don't mean any harm, we just – um – stumbled in by accident."

The woman looked disapproving. "Don't insult my intelligence! I can tell you're lying. Come with me, the professor will want to hear about this."

With that, she walked away as if she knew they'd follow.

Nico was almost ashamed as he, along with the others, wordlessly followed her out.

* * *

**A/N: Here's another chapter! I hope you guys don'e hate me too much for taking so long... I've kind of been on a Final Fantasy addiction, and I haven't worn it out yet. I'm trying to get my inspiration back up for this story.**

**Guest review for chapter 12: I fixed that error! I looked over it had a mini heart-attack. It must have really, really late or something when I wrote that... **

**HELLO-A: Ha, yeah, there are a lot of characters. Probably a mistake, but I'll manage. Somehow. Someway. :D **

**Reviews are awesome! Hint, hint, nudge, nudge. **


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter Seventeen**

**Just an Empty Puppet**

Ever since his run-in with Than, Harry had taken precautions to make sure he was always in the right place at the right time to "talk" to the kid. It had seemed like a good plan at first, but as it turned out, Than had the wits and cunning of a Slytherin. He knew what Harry was trying to do before Harry even started talking, and blew him off quite easily. It seemed all time-travelers were good at keeping their secrets to themselves.

Harry stood in the field outside the castle, right behind a practice broom.

Beside him was Draco, who glowered darkly at his broom and repeatedly ignored Harry's attempts to talk to him. Draco wasn't the only one trying to avoid talking. If anyone had noticed Than's strange changes, they hadn't showed any signs. The overly cheerful, annoying personality must have paid off, because most of the students steered clear of him, which left him with plenty of time to do whatever it was he did all day.

The broom wouldn't be a problem, neither would the flight after. Harry had gone through flight lessons already in first year (the first time) and had had no problem calling his broom to his hand. This time, however, he really didn't want to be noticed. Last time he hadn't wanted to be noticed, but now he _really_ wanted to keep a low profile. Flying with the skills of a seasoned Quidditch player (a better-than-normal Quidditch player as well) wouldn't help him stay under the radar.

Across from him, Allan stared at his broom, but with a blank look rather then Draco's glare. Harry had wondered and wondered what could possibly be Allan's problem, but nothing made sense. Harry winced in sympathy as Allan ordered his broom 'up', and the broom didn't even move. It was the tenth time, and the broom acted as if Allan didn't exist.

"It helps if you put some feel into it," said Harry. When Allan looked at him questioningly, he elaborated. "I mean you have to _want_ it to go up."

"I do want it to go up," Allan replied. He looked back down at the broom. "But it will not. Could it be malfunctioning?"

Harry cringed. What eleven year old used words like malfunction and spoke like a robot?

"I don't think it's broken," Harry said. "You have to really order it. Put something in your order or –"

"You have to want it," snapped Draco. "Your standing there like you're not even ticking in your head. You want it? Tell it 'up'. _Merlin_."

Allan frowned, and said, "Up." The broom still did nothing. "It does not work."

Harry scowled at Draco for being so rude, but could think of nothing better to tell the redhead. "Just . . . I don't know. Aren't you impatient because it's not working?"

Allan stopped mid-order. "Impatient? No." A strange look passed over his face, and he said with a slightly begging tone, "Up?"

The broom flew into his hand and hit hand with a hard crack. He blinked, and the joy, or relief, or _something_ Harry had been expecting to see didn't show. Allan looked just as impassive and almost confused as before. Harry wondered if Allan could even feel emotion, not the for the first time, and certainly not for the last. There had been something, right before the broom obeyed the 'up' command that showed. But it had been a lot like . . . dread.

Draco looked like he was going to say something, but thought better of it. Harry snorted softly. Surprise, surprise. Draco was actually thinking before he spoke. Those thoughts were wiped out as soon as Draco opened his mouth again. "What happened that made you how you are?"

Allan's fingers drummed systematically on the broom. "You are all too fond of bringing up sensitive subjects in public areas. However, nothing traumatic had ever happened to me."

Now it was Draco's turn to look baffled. "You're not lying."

"Why would I lie?" Allan asked sincerely.

"MR. GRACE!" their Quidditch teacher shouted.

Sirius was way higher on his broom than he was supposed to be, and grinning like a madman the whole time. When he didn't show any signs of descending, the professor pulled out his wand and aimed it at him. Harry thought Sirius would come down, but to his shock (he really shouldn't have been, though) Sirius only made a face and rose higher, circling around gracefully. He obviously wanted to get expelled before Christmas even rolled around.

Sirius flew right over Harry and Draco, his grin still stuck in place. "Having fun, Harry?"

Harry gave him a deadpan look. "Get down."

The "older" man gave a mock-pout. "Don't be a killjoy."

"I'm just trying to make sure you don't get expelled," Harry said. When Sirius's broom tipped to the side suddenly, almost dumping the rider off, he added, "or before you break your neck."

"I'm hurt by your lack of confidence in me," said Sirius. "Really hurt."

"Serio –" Harry cut himself off before he opened up _that_ can of worms. "Honestly, Sirius! Get down here."

Sirius sighed. "Fine, Harry." He glided down skillfully, landing next to them. He grinned at Allan. "You finally did it, eh? Good Pinocchio! Maybe one day you'll be a real boy!"

Harry shook his head. "What?"

"I am real," said Allan flatly.

"Not with that brain of wood you have," Sirius said lightly.

"Sirius!" Harry admonished, though Allan didn't look insulted.

"What?" asked Sirius. "Just saying it how it is."

"My brain is not wood," Allan said in the same tone as before.

They bickered for awhile, and Harry, Sirius and Allan all got detention because of it. Again. Harry was sure that he was getting more detention in the one year he was in the past, than all of the years had had gone to Hogwarts in the future.

Later, Harry dropped down at the Gryffindor table next to Than. He was going to wrestle some answers from the kid if it was the last thing he did. Than clearly knew _something_ – a lot of somethings, Harry reckoned – but wasn't talking. Harry figured Than would be irritated at being bugged in the middle of public, with hundreds of people around him, but that would be even more reason for him to just _tell Harry everything_ so he would leave Than alone.

Harry piled his plate, glancing over at the boy. "So. You plan on telling me anything, ever?"

"No," Than hissed. "And stop cornering me where there tons of people around!"

"I'm not going to stop until you at least answer some of my questions." Harry said stubbornly.

"Why are you so insistent?" Than asked angrily. "You're not . . ." he stopped and lower his voice, "you're not a demigod, nor were you born into time travel. You could just _go back_ to your ordinary life, like this never happened!"

Than scowled, looking ready to start throwing things. "I don't get you people! You want to leave what every – single – one – of us wants."

Harry frowned. "If you think my life was ordinary before this, you're mistaken."

"Yeah, yeah," said Than. "Chosen one and so on. I think I'd even take that pressure over this."

"I don't know what 'this' is," Harry burst out. "Whether I like or not, I'm here, so I deserve to know what's going on!"

Than rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Your funeral."

He stood up, taking his plate with him. If anyone noticed their brief exchange, they didn't show it. It was as if all of the people were unaware of their existence in general. As long as they didn't pull stunts like Sirius and Leo did (which they did frequently) it was as if they weren't there at all. No one ever seemed aware of them, unless they made themselves known.

Than sighed. "If you really want to know, fine. But not out here."

Harry jumped up so fast he almost knocked his knees on the table. He followed Than out of the Great Hall, feeling a strange urge to do a victory dance. Finally, after basically _begging_ all week, Than had cracked and was going to spill his secrets. Or at least a few of them – honestly, Harry couldn't see the other boy just telling Harry everything. That was too much good luck.

Than leaned against the wall, his armed crossed. "Shoot. Metaphorically speaking."

"I'm not an idiot," Harry snapped. Then he asked, "Who are we fighting?"

"Who are we fighting?" Than parroted with a laugh. "_Who are we fighting_, he asks. There's no simple way to answer that. In all honesty, I'm not too sure myself."

"Can you tell me at least what you've guessed?" asked Harry hopefully.

Than's face settled into a disgruntled expression. "My brother . . . he would be able to explain this easier than me. However, he's . . . and that isn't important.

"From what I can tell, there's this power that's giving . . . whoever is in charge on the 'other side' a big advantage. There's quite a bit of 'other sides' to contend with, though. There's mortal companies like ICE and ADAM, which are really a rotting cesspool hidden under the thin excuse for "science". Then there's other people, like . . ." Than frowned, tapping his fingers on his arm thoughtfully. "You know, I'm not sure what to call them. They go in people, and come out monsters with dark powers."

"Monsters?" Harry asked. That didn't bode well – the demigods were monster magnates.

"Yeah, your half-blood friends are going to be having it rough until we can stop who ever is in charge of this – this . . . whatever it is. Dark stuff." Than snorted. "_I_ don't even know that. Really, I'm not the best person to inform you about these things. Sure, I know stuff, but I'm kind of out of the loop."

"What do you mean, 'out of the loop'?" Just his luck – the one person who seemed to be experienced with time travel wasn't getting updates on the current news.

Than shrugged. "I . . . was out of commission for awhile. We'll leave it at that."

"What is ICE?" Harry remembered Katelle offhandedly mentioning it. "What is ADAM?"

Than let out a bark of laughter. "Mortals who found out more than they should have. You see, while mortals are typically blind to everything, some of them aren't."

"Well, yeah," said Harry, not understanding were the other boy was going. "There's the clear-sighted mortals."

"Even more than that," Than said. "If you specifically point something out to a mortal, say a large monster, and tell them to _really_ look at it, they'll see the monster. And they'll keep seeing that monster, even if they look away. It's because their mind was opened for that second."

Harry didn't like where this was going. "What does that have to do with ICE and ADAM?"

"It has everything to do it, duh!" Than rolled his eyes in a '_gods, how stupid can you be_' sort of way. "ICE and ADAM are two mortal organizations who have figured out how to keep their brain open. They're scientists, and scientists inherently – talented ones, anyway – have open minds. They question, study, and test everything. _They_ open the door between the mortal, and the magical worlds."

"You still haven't answered my question," Harry commented. "What are they?"

Than glared at the ground as if it insulted him. "I don't know what they stand for, if that's what you mean. Probably something stupid and bureaucratic. However, I know they both deal with magical things and they're known for their experiments. Especially ICE."

"Experiments?"

Than shifted uncomfortably. It seemed Harry was encroaching on sensitive territories. "Yeah. Experiments." His voice was almost to low for Harry to hear. "They're some messed up people. You'd better pray, if you ever get caught and can't escape, that they just kill you immediately."

Something dawned on Harry. "You know from experience, don't you?"

Than's expression turned guarded. "Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. Many of good people have disappeared into ICE Headquarters and never come back out. Or if they do . . ."

Harry waited patiently. He was getting the feeling that pushing Than to say things wasn't the way to go. It only made him close up and take even longer to explain anything. The redhead's face was stormy, his head tilted down so low his chin almost touched his chest. His eyes were completely blank though, lost in whatever painful memories were haunting them.

Harry couldn't help but feel guilty for bringing up those memories. He hoped Than didn't choose to completely cut himself off after this, so he wouldn't have to relive the past. As much as his past bothered him, Harry really needed to know what was going on. They were literally useless sitting there in the 1930's if they didn't know the beginning of what was going on outside their little bubble of safety. Or at least what safety Hogwarts could offer.

Just when Harry thought Than wasn't going to continue, he said, "Your friend Allan came out of ICE."

"What?" Harry eyebrows flew up. _Allan_ had been a prisoner of ICE?

"He was captured a few years ago," said Than nonchalantly. "Disappeared off the face of the planet and time itself. Scared all of us half-insane."

_All of us?_ Harry was tempted to ask, but didn't want to interrupt Than now that he was talking.

"He showed up about a year ago, with no memory, no nothing. All he remembered was a number, given to him by the scientist that worked on him." Than shook his head. "That's not even the weirdest part – Allan died. He was killed, we don't know how because Katelle would never tell us, but he was dead. Somehow he's alive again, even if he's not all up there."

Harry winced in sympathy for Allan. "So you have no idea what happened to Allan?"

Than shrugged noncommittally. "Eh. Last I knew, ICE was trying to recreate demigod and wizard powers. As in, give them to normal mortals and/or called muggles. They're also imbuing them with that dark stuff. It makes them stronger and faster, but they always die quickly. Their bodies just fall apart."

Harry's stomach churned. He knew he shouldn't ask, but, "fall apart?"

Than snorted. "Not literally. They just fail. Give out. Keel over and die. Take your pick."

"Oh." Harry swallowed – even so, it wasn't a pleasant death. "Earlier, you said 'we'. What did you mean by that?"

"Do I look like I'm a friendless loser?" Than mocked being affronted. "There were more. Acer, Arianne, Mara – Katelle's younger sister. We weren't a small community. However, after the other side discovered that dark power, the tides turned for the worse."

Harry wasn't sure what to say to that. He managed to say, "So . . . if we can find out what this dark power is, and stop it somehow, the tides might turn back in our favor."

"Easier said than done," said Than. Just like that, and Harry suddenly felt like they were discussing a plan of attack. "We've tried the direct rout," his expression clouded, "that's how our people got captured. We need a more sneak attack to gather information, but there's no one left. I lost contact with Mara a few weeks ago, and she was the last one. Even then, she's so young.

"There's no one to do the job, I would, but I'm . . ." Than grimaced. "I don't even trust myself to do simple things like taking care of a pet bird. There's no way I could ever trust myself to do something so extensive and important."

Harry hesitated, but then threw his caution into the wind. "Is there anything we can do?"

Than looked taken aback for a second. "What?"

"We came here to stop the time travel problems," Harry said, his resolve hardening even more. "So far, all we've done is hem and haw here in the past, and literally done nothing. If we can help, I think I speak for us all when we say will give it with pleasure."

Than studied him for a second, and then sighed. "I'm not sure. There _is_ a way. However, that 'way' ran off to the Cretaceous period with your demigod friends."

"Who?"

"Tom Riddle." Than said. At Harry's look of disbelief, he grinned. "Oh, there's a lot more to Riddle's story than even Dumbledore showed you. I don't know much of it at all, but I can tell you, he's not normal. Not one bit."

"What's that mean?" Harry asked cautiously.

"It means he's our ticket to ICE," said Than. "But he's not here right now. And I really can't explain it without him being here. Plus it's kind of not my story to tell."

"You had no problem with telling me Allan was from ICE," Harry pointed out.

Than rolled his eyes. "Allan . . . is barely human anymore. He doesn't really count. Katelle would never admit it, but he's like an empty shell. A puppet. There's nothing there."

Harry was about to protest, but Than cut him off.

"Anyway, if your party wants to help, we need Riddle back. He's our only chance of getting into ICE at all." Than pushed himself off the wall, lazily stretching his arms. "Go talk to your friends. I'm sure they'll be more than interest to hear all the things I told you."

The other boy started down the hall, but slowed a moment before leaving and called over his shoulder, "I spent five years of my life in an ICE laboratory. Don't let yourself or anyone else have the same fate."

Harry was speechless as Than disappeared around the corner.

o0o

"Harry, what is it?"

Harry looked over at Hermione. He was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, mulling over his thoughts. Everything he had heard culminated in his mind, piling up into one big completely incomprehensible mess. The fire crackled warmly, but for some reason it didn't seem to settle his scattered thoughts at all. If anything, he just felt colder and colder the longer he was in the heat, and more and more uncomfortable on the chair.

He jumped to his feet, making Hermione jump. The rest of the gang was there, crowded in the common room. Frank and Hazel sat side-by-side on the floor. Albus and Severus were sitting on the other sofa with Sirius and Leo. Allan stood by himself farther from the rest of them, hidden partially in the shadows and lost in his own thoughts.

Harry remembered what Than said. _'A puppet'_. Was Allan really nothing more than an empty puppet?

"Harry, mate, what happened?" Ron asked.

Harry turned to face them. "I got Than to talk."

Ron sat up straighter. "What he say?"

Harry rubbed his temples, and then rehashed everything Than had told him. The others sat in silence while they listened to the green-eyed boy speak. Differing emotions ranged on their faces, from Albus's concern for Tom Riddle, Severus's annoyed look about something (he always looked annoyed), Hermione's problem-solving expression, Ron's confusion, Leo's hyperactivity, Frank and Hazel's mirrored dread, and Sirius's narrowed eyes.

He left out the part about Allan. Even though the redhead claimed to feel no emotions, he didn't want to tell Allan that Than said he was an empty shell. There was no need to pour salt in the wound, if there was a wound. Sirius seemed to sense that Harry was holding something back, didn't outright question it, which was both surprising and relieving.

"How can Tom be the key in all of this?" Hazel asked. "No offense, but he was kind of just a plus-side of traveling here. He wasn't the real mission. Was he?"

"Did we even know what the real mission was?" Leo looked around at everyone. "It was kind of ambiguous. 'Go in the past, correct the mistake'. We weren't even sure what the mistake was – it could have been Tom, but we weren't positive of that."

Hermione's eyes were very . . . what was the right word? Disturbed. "I think . . . I think I might know, but . . . I'd have to make sure. . . ."

"'Mione, what is it?" Harry asked.

She shook her head. "No – no, it can't be. It was a foolish thought."

It was clear she didn't want to say what she was thinking. Harry sighed, but didn't press her for an explanation. He had had enough puzzles to to put together, without a bunch of theories on how to piece them. The last thing he needed was to have to order out theories in his head, along with information, ideas, and facts about their predicament. . . . What really was their predicament?

"ICE does human experiments . . ." Ron shuddered. "That sounds bloody awful."

"That's because it _is_ awful, Ronald," snapped Hermione. "It's inhumane, immoral, and just plain _wrong!_"

"What kind of experiments are we talking about here?" Frank asked tentatively, apparently a little intimidated by Hermione's outburst.

"Does it matter?" Hermione said rhetorically. "Than clearly wasn't a willing participant in anything. That in itself makes it a horrible thing."

"Allan . . ." Harry felt bad even asking. "Do you . . . remember _anything_ from your time in ICE?"

"No." Allan said. "All I had was a number."

The others looked like they were going to all start talking at the same time, when the portrait opened and the last people they expected to see walked through the hole like they owned the place.

Percy grinned. "What's up?"

Leo let out a whoop. "Aquaman's back!"

Annabeth, Tom and Theon walked in behind him.

Annabeth smiled at them as well, looking relieved to be in the warmth and hugged Hazel, giving Frank and friendly shove. Theon zipped around, hugging everyone. Theon and Sirius almost immediately started planning for something. Out of all of them, Tom was the quietest. He stood as still as a statue, looking a little out of place. Normally Harry would have pegged on him being a Slytherin in the Gryffindor common room (probably the first since the founding of the school), but he didn't think that was it.

Once everyone settled down and calmed themselves (cough, Sirius and Theon, cough), Annabeth, Percy, Theon, and all took turns telling the story, and their specific parts in it. Tom glowered at Percy when the son of Poseidon mentioned how badly he needed to work on his physical fitness. They looked a little downcast when they recounted how Katelle had opted to stay behind, under the explanation that she needed to 'do something'.

Hermione's eyes lit up. "Her sister."

Annabeth stopped talking. "What?"

"Than said she had a sister," Hermione said, looking around as if it was obvious. "Mara, her name is. Harry, didn't you say Mara stopped contacting him a few days ago?"

"Yeah . . . Oh," Harry said in realization. "You think something happened to her, and Katelle somehow knew and stayed behind to help her?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense," said Hermione.

Annabeth chewed her lip, and then looked up at them. "So, what happened while we were gone?"

Harry gave a short laugh. _There_ they go again. This was going to take forever.

Another, even more shortened version of what Than said later, at they were all caught up. Well, almost all of them. Harry also told Percy, Annabeth, Theon and Tom that after they disappeared into the portal, Jason, Piper and Nico went after them to make sure they were all right. The three half-bloods hadn't come back before the anomaly closed.

"They're probably still stuck there . . ." Percy muttered. He looked guilty. "We have to do something."

Harry huffed. "That's what I've been saying all week."

Percy stopped. "All . . . week?"

"Yes," Hermione replied. "There's apparently a time difference between the eras you were in and now . . ." she frowned. "You know what I mean."

Ron snorted and Leo and Sirius started laughing.

Harry smiled. "It's all right, Hermione, we understand."

Tom had been silent up until then, standing in the shadows on the other side of the common room from Allan. His face was conflicted with something that was almost akin to panic. His fists were clenched, and his mind seemed to racing at a million miles an hour. Harry couldn't help feeling worried for him. Being told that one was the 'key' to something had to be a bit disconcerting.

"What . . . am I supposed to do?" Tom finally asked. The others looked sympathetic, but Tom scowled. "I don't want your sympathy! I just want answers."

"The only one who can answer anything is Than," said Harry regretfully. "And he's not fond of talking at all."

"Number seven . . ." Tom murmured, barely loud enough for them to hear.

"What?" Harry asked.

Tom started, as if he didn't know he had spoken out loud. "Nothing. I'm going to get something to eat – it's been forever since I've had some food."

With that, he left, leaving a cloud of doom and brooding behind him.

Sirius sighed. "We've gone into the past and created an emo Voldemort."

"Sirius!" They chorused.

* * *

**A/N: I did it! I finished another chapter! Fiiiiiiiinally. This'll probably be over in a few chapters, though. It's not nearly as long as the first story, but there's no way I'm going be able to survive making it that long...I'll go gray.**

**You know how _hard_ it was to restrain myself from turning this into a mass crossover with Final Fantasy VII? I know I couldn't, because that would just be confusing, but I really wanted to. But then I'd have to add in about a hundred more characters. Of course, a few characters would be miraculously revive (cough, Zack, Aerith, Angeal, cough) and some would have to suddenly recover from insanity (cough, Sephiroth, cough)...Yeah. No more cross-overing in this story. (And Reno, and Rude, and Cloud, and Tifa and Genesis...)**

**Thank you for all the reviews! It probably would have taken me another week just to get this out if it weren't for the support. Reviews are awesome! **

**I hope you guys enjoyed this. Ciao!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter Eighteen**

**Pink . . . Pink Everywhere**

Once again, Harry found himself in the Headmaster's office, getting questioned. This time, it was about how Annabeth, Percy, Theon, and Tom just appeared out of no where, where they had been the whole time, and why they had just waltzed into the common room. Unfortunately, this time they couldn't feed Dippet a load of Pegasus dump because they had already given him just about every crazy, off-the-wall story they could of think of, going mostly off of movies that wouldn't come out for over fifty years.

Harry knew it was only Dippet's naivete and Dumbledore's influence that kept the Headmaster from going all out and shoving Veriteserum down their throats. Dippet didn't seem to trust them, or their stories. Harry had no idea why.

" . . . and then the ghost passed through me! I fell unconscious, so I had no idea what happened after. I just woke up, and _boom!_ Two weeks of my life gone." Theon finished his story with a dramatic flourish.

Percy nodded enthusiastically. "It was insane."

"Mr. Riddle?" Dumbledore asked, pinning the dark-haired boy under a stare. "You haven't said much. Is there anything you can add?"

Tom shrugged. "What he said."

"It was confusing," Annabeth said with a flippant smile that completely went against her character. Turned out she was a talented actress. "One moment were all conscious, and the next, we just woke up two weeks in the future!"

"And Harry, you found them?" Dumbledore set his stare on Harry.

Harry didn't remember Dumbledore being so . . . forceful in his time. "Yes, they kind of stumbled into the common room. They didn't know so much time had passed by."

Dumbledore was quiet for several seconds, and Harry reminded himself that the professor was good at sniffing out liars. Exceptionally good at it.

"Very well, Mr. Evans," said Dumbledore slowly. "And you saw no signs of Mr. di Angelo, Mr. Grace, and Miss McLean?"

Harry shook his head, sharing a worried look with the others. Nico, Jason and Piper were still missing. They hadn't returned from the Forbidden Forest, and when they checked the clearing that the anomaly had appeared in, there were no signs of it reopening at any time. They were probably still stuck eighty-five million years in the past, and they might even still be looking for Percy, Annabeth, Theon, Katelle, and Tom.

"No, sir, we haven't seen them," Harry said out loud.

Dumbledore looked a heartbeat away from doing legilimancy on him, but to Harry's relief, he didn't. "Understood, Mr. Evans."

"All due respect, sir," Tom said before Dumbledore could ask Harry anymore questions, "can we leave now? We're understandably exhausted."

"I thought you said you were sleeping," Dumbledore commented casually, but Harry knew that it anything but casual. The gears were turning in Dumbledore's head.

"Sir," Tom said, and Harry could tell the first year was holding back a building temper, "can we be dismissed?"

Dumbledore watched Tom silently, blue eyes meeting blue eyes in a sort of contest of wills. Dumbledore could have pressed for more questions, but he withdrew. "If it is all right with the Headmaster, I believe you can be dismissed."

Dippet, who really didn't trust them, was reluctant to let them go without asking even more questions. In the end, Dumbledore won. Harry got the impression, from Dippet's defeated look and thrown glare, that Dumbledore won a lot of those contests. It was no wonder he became Headmaster after Dippet retired – or died, Harry couldn't remember exactly which – since Dumbledore was a lot more clever and, admittedly, manipulative.

In the halls, Tom said even less than he had during the interrogation. He seemed to be drawn deep into his own thoughts. Having Tom Riddle lost in his own deep most thoughts was a bit of a scary concept for Harry, so he decided to find out what was bothering the younger boy. He just wanted to make sure he came across it like he was worried about Tom's health, not him going crazy and suddenly wanting to take over the world.

Turned out, Harry wouldn't have to pry at all. Tom suddenly flipped into a talkative mood when Harry slowed his pace so he was side-by-side with the boy.

"Have you ever felt like everything was . . . a lie?" Tom asked softly, looking down at the ground with a concentrated frown.

Yep, all the time. That's what Harry wanted to tell him. Instead, he said, "I don't know. What do you mean?"

Tom looked away, his eyes partially hidden behind a fringe of wavy black hair, which he hadn't even bothered to comb that morning. That said a lot for how distracted he was, since Tom never left his dorm looking anything less than impeccable. He was still in the clothes from the day before, which were torn and dirty. He had probably crashed as soon as he saw his bed and didn't bother about changing. He kept his eyes away from Harry's, and didn't seem very keen on answering.

"What am I? You said that I was . . . needed for something. What makes me different?" His voice was quiet, as if he was talking more to himself then to Harry.

"Than said that," Harry replied quickly. If Tom was going to have a bone to pick with someone, Harry wasn't going to let it be himself. "And I have no idea what he meant by it, either. . . . Why would you be any different?"

Tom clenched his fists. "That's what I want to know. Why _am_ I so different?"

"You're not different . . ." Harry stated uncertainly, his voice trailing off. In reality, Tom was different. He was better at magic than anyone Harry had ever seen. Young Tom Riddle's ability with magic was so much more potent than the Voldemort of the future. He was a demigod, and a powerful one, but no major traits stood out that helped narrow down who his godly parent was. It really was a good question: what _was_ Tom Riddle?

"You can't deny it," Tom grumbled moodily. "Half-bloods have nightmares, right?"

Harry suddenly regretted stopping to talk with Tom. Really, what _had_ he been thinking? Since when was he the local psychotherapist? "I'm not the best person to talk about half-blood stuff with."

Tom fidgeted with the hems of his sleeves. "I know, but . . . talking with you feels natural. If that makes any sense," he added hastily, looking incredibly embarrassed.

Harry could practically hear Tom mentally berating himself for saying that. He snorted softly – it made more sense than Tom would ever know, with the mental link they had. "It's alright."

"I have dreams that make no sense," Tom said. His expression was guarded as he continued, "It feels like a memory, but there's no way . . ."

"What are the dreams about?" Harry asked, though he had a feeling Tom wouldn't be so willing to talk about it. Harry wasn't when he had nightmares.

"It's foolish, really, but –"

_BAM!_

The ground literally rattled under their feet.

"THEON!"

Tom and Harry broke into a jog, rounding the corner where the others had gotten ahead of them. They discovered Annabeth covered from head to toe in soot, her expression furious. Theon was in a similar situation, although he was grinning as if he wasn't afraid of the angry daughter of Athena in front of him. His sandy hair was blow up like he had put his finger in a light socket, and his teeth were brilliant white against his soot-covered face.

Percy was mostly clean, since it seemed Annabeth and Theon took the brunt of the blast. Unlike Annabeth, he wasn't angry, but he also wasn't laughing out-right, unlike Theon. He seemed torn between laughing, and invoking the wrath of Annabeth. Like the smart son of Poseidon he was, he chose to not call his girlfriend's fury on himself.

"What happened?" Harry asked, blinking in confusion behind his glasses.

Theon smiled again, a little sheepish. "Prank spell backfired. We can't all get it perfect the first time!"

"You could at least have it backfire somewhere else," Annabeth said, having calmed down enough to not be tempted to strangle Theon.

"Aww, what fun is that?" Theon grinned widely.

"You people are as subtle as an elephant charging into battle," drawled a voice in front of them, who they hadn't noticed walking right up to them.

Than crossed his arms, giving them an unimpressed look. "I thought you were going to at least _try_ to be incognito."

Theon gave a carefree shrug. "Yeaaah. . . . That didn't work out for us."

Than snorted. "Obviously. You might want to make yourself scarce – there's a professor coming to investigate the noise."

"Where are them coming from and who?" Theon looked ready to bolt.

Than rolled his eyes. "From behind me, where else? And Dumbledore."

Theon wailed, "He's omnipresent!" and turned tail and ran the opposite way Than came from.

Than frowned. "He's way too cheerful."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Percy defended, under the impression that Than was being a little hypocritical, seeing how he acted the first few weeks of that year. "Let's get out of here."

They quickly fled from the scene of the crime, but Tom seemed to be focusing on something else besides the explosion. Since Than was there, it was a perfect opportunity for Tom to question him about his 'usefulness', whatever that meant. Harry would be curious if it were him, and even though Than didn't like talking, it was easier to pry answers out of him than it was Dumbledore.

"So?" Harry asked.

Percy looked at Harry in confusion. "So what?"

"Seaweed brain," Annabeth sighed. "Just let them talk."

Tom crossed his arms, his fingers tapping the outside of his right arm. "You know things about me."

Than seemed almost _amused_. "I do, don't I?"

"Don't play games!" Tom snapped.

Than laughed. "Rich, coming from you. I think the real question is: do you want to know about yourself?"

The first year suddenly looked a little less eager. "Yes?"

"Your tone of voice inspires me with confidence," Than replied dryly.

Tom scowled. "Just tell me! What am I? Why am I so special?"

"You're a demigod?" Percy suggested, only to whacked upside the head by Annabeth.

"Percy!"

"Right, right. I'm being quiet."

"What are you?" Than echoed. "That's a question even I don't know. Why are you so special? Not so sure about that one, either."

When Tom, Harry, Percy, and Annabeth all started protesting, he held up his hand. "However, I do know a place you might be able to find answers. But as I said before, you really want to ask yourself if you're ready for those answers, because you might find you're a _lot_ different then you originally thought."

"Where is this place?" Tom asked, ignoring the looks he received from the Percy, Annabeth, and Harry.

"It's no longer a place you can physically walk to," Than said. "You would have to open a portal."

"As in an anomaly?" Harry asked.

Than snorted. "No. The anomalies are gates through time, not through space."

"I'll pretend that made sense," Percy muttered.

"You ran into Thorne, right?" Than leaned against the wall of the corridor they were in.

"Thorne?" Percy asked.

Than scowled. "So you haven't. Well, if you do meet him, tell him Than says he hates him. And that he hopes he dies a painful death. . . . Maybe eaten by Cretaceous insects . . ."

"Portal?" Tom asked to get Than back on track.

"Yes!" Than narrowed his eyes at Tom. "You're capable of opening the portals as well."

Tom watched him blankly a few seconds. "_What_?"

"You don't know how yet, but you can." Than shrugged. "I guess you just have to work on it or something. The only way to get to this place with all the answers is through a portal. If you can't open a portal, you can't get your answers."

Tom glared at him fiercely. "How do I open a portal, then?"

Than shrugged again. "No clue."

"How utterly helpful," Tom muttered sarcastically.

Than rolled his shoulders back, as if prepping for a fight. "Whatever. I think you won't have as hard of a time figuring out how to open a portal as you imagine."

Before Tom could pester him for anymore answers, Than had disappeared around the corner. The dark-haired boy clenched his fists angrily. "That didn't help me _at all_! I thought he was supposed to be a wealth of information or something!"

Harry rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "He seemed to know a lot more about time travel then whatever this portal stuff is."

Tom glowered. "So until I figure out how to open a portal, which I have no idea what it even looks like, I'm just as ignorant as ever."

"Looks like it," Percy said. "I wouldn't stress about it too much – I'm sure it'll come to you. . . . Uh, whatever 'it' is."

Tom looked at his hands. "Come to me?"

Harry, Percy, and Annabeth watched him curiously. Harry wondered if was figuring something out already. Perhaps he would be able to open a portal, and they would find that place Than was talking about. Then, they would learn more about the anomalies, and how to stop them permanently. They might even learn a thing or two about that Thorne character that Than mentioned, who could open portals himself.

A few seconds later, Tom dropped his hands. "I got nothing."

Percy snorted, while Harry sighed. Tom's grammar was being heavily influenced by them, it seemed. Annabeth looked like she was tempted to correct him, but she decided against it. Mostly because it was so funny watching him talk like a grammatically incorrect American, but also because Percy was glaring at her not to. It was one of the few times Percy could get away with glaring at Annabeth and her lectures.

"_Heeeey!_"

Arms wrapped around Harry's and Percy's shoulders and Theon appeared. He grinned widely, and said at machine-gun speeds, "You guys hungry? I'm hungry! I think it's dinner time, it's dinner time right? Or is it breakfast? We need to go to the Great Hall! Is it hot in here? It's hot in here! Why are you guys moving so slow? It's _hot_ in here!"

Tom openly gaped at Theon. "What is wrong with him?"

"Wrong with me? Nothing's wrong with me! I don't know why you think something's wrong with me! I'm totally healthy! And I'm hungry! I'm _so, so_ hungry! We should go to the Great Hall."

"Dude," Percy said, raising his eyebrows at Theon. "What potion did you test on yourself this time?"

"I don't know!" Theon was still grinning, hopping up and down like a deranged rabbit. "Something about haste and energy! I'm really hungry! And it's so hot in here! And you're still moving slow! Well, I'm going to the Great Hall! See yah!"

The insane boy bolted, and they could here him chattering to some random student, who sounded like a strangely triumphant Abraxas Malfoy, from several halls away.

They looked at each other in bewilderment. Tom opened and closed his mouth several times before saying, "what just happened?"

Percy laughed. "I think one of Theon's potions finally got the best of him."

"He's gone mad!" Tom exclaimed.

"Tom," Percy said calmly. "Theon would have to be sane at some point to go insane."

"But – but –"

Theon popped up next to Tom, making the other boy jump about a foot of the ground. "Hey! You're not in the Great Hall yet? You're still here! Why are you still here? You guys move _sooo_ slow!"

"Don't do tha –" Tom's voice choked off when he finally saw Theon's face. Harry could practically see the 'doesn't compute' alarm flashing in his brain. "What . . . are you . . ."

Theon grinned impishly. "What?"

Harry covered his laugh with a cough, while Percy's face turned red with the effort of not laughing. Annabeth looked a mixture between amused and totally confused. Tom was scrambling for words, but they seemed to failing him as the antics of the son of Hermes finally became too much for his brain to handle.

Theon had a pair of bright, fuzzy, _huge_ pink sunglasses perched on his nose. There were pink feathers sticking out of the side, and glitter was falling off onto his face. With his crazy grin, the fact he couldn't stop zipping around from place to place, and the fact he was wearing those . . . things, he looked like he officially lost his marbles.

"Theon." Harry forced out. "Why are you wearing those?"

"Lost a bet," Theon replied. "I'm still hungry, and it's still hot in here! I'm going to go eat. Bye!"

And he darted off again.

Percy burst into laughter at the same time as Harry and Annabeth, leaving Tom looking hopelessly confused and lost. "I don't understand! What's so funny about that? It's just . . . humiliating!"

"That's what is so funny," Harry spluttered.

Tom still looked confused as they made their way to the Great Hall, but they decided against trying to make him understand. It was funnier watching him grasp for words to link into a proper sentence.

As soon as they walked into the Great Hall, they were accosted by Allan. He gave them a desperate look. "Theon is wearing pink sunglasses."

Percy snickered. "We know."

"Why is he wearing pink sunglasses?" Allan asked, his logical mind baffled.

Abraxas Malfoy jumped in on the conversation, piling food on his plate. "I bet that I could stay out of detention longer in Yohanin's class. I won."

"Theon bet on that?" Harry snorted. "Sounds like it would be obvious he would fail."

Abraxas smiled brightly. "There might have been something on the professor's desk that he didn't like, which had Theon's name and signature on it."

Percy, who had been about to drink some pumpkin juice, stopped. "What? You forged _his_ signature? I didn't even know that was possible!"

"You can't go around forging signatures!" Tom said, mostly because he didn't like seeing Theon in pink sunglasses. It was just odd.

Abraxas gave him a look like a kicked puppy. "But it was fun!"

Theon appeared between Harry and Percy. "What was fun? Did I hear fun? Oh, food! And it's hot in here, too!"

"Make him go away," Tom grumbled.

"Theon, you're disturbing Tom," said Percy, not bothering to hide his amusement.

Harry shook his head and focused on his food. However, a few minutes later, little things started to catch his attention. First, it was Dippet's pink hat. Then it was Dumbledore's pink robes, which he – frighteningly enough – didn't seem too bothered by. By the time the banners all turned pink, Harry knew there was something seriously up.

Theon looked innocent, but that didn't mean anything. If anything, when he was looking innocent, that was when Harry knew he should watch his back. However, then Theon stopped talking rapid fire. He blinked several times, and his head hit the table. Harry poked the younger boy's side, and was surprised to see that Theon had passed out.

"Thank the gods," Tom mumbled.

That was when the entire Slytherin table went pink.

"OKAY, who's doing this?!" Abraxas yelled.

No one answered.

Harry looked over at the Gryffindor table, and wasn't overly surprised to see Leo and Sirius snickering together. "I think they did it," he muttered.

Abraxas turned in his seat to look at the Gryffindors, and growled. "Ugh! Bloody Gryffindors."

"Wha's the table doin'?" Theon slurred, picking his head up. There was pink glitter stuck to the side of his face.

Harry didn't even try to reply. He shoveled his food in his mouth as fast as possible, and then stood up to leave. The Great Hall was getting pinker and pinker by the moment, and Sirius and Leo were laughing so hard they looked like they would suffocate. Harry didn't have to know about his godfather's pranking addiction to guess that had something to do with the pink-ifying of the Great Hall.

Tom followed him, seeming overjoyed to leave the pink Great Hall. Outside, Tom shuddered and asked Harry, "are all of the sons of Hermes like that?"

Harry smiled. "From what I've heard? Yes. Have you had any luck with the portal?"

Tom scowled. "It's hardly been a half hour since I heard about those."

"I know," Harry said. This was Tom Riddle – if he hadn't figured something out yet, then he was failing his reputation. "And have you had any luck?"

Tom shrugged. He opened his hand, and darkness pouring from his fingers for a few seconds, before disappearing. "That's the best I can do."

"Well, you better hurry up."

They turned to see Than. Harry had thought he was the one following Than everywhere, but it seemed the roles had been reversed. The redheaded boy strode over to them. "You haven't got much time. I don't know what they did to you to give you that power, but it never comes without a price. Just ask Thorne."

Harry glared at him, resisted the urge to hex Than. "You said you didn't know anything about the portals."

"I never said that," Than retorted. "I said I didn't know anything about Tom. And it's true – I don't. By all means, Tom shouldn't have this power. But he does. I don't know why he does, but I'll assume the answer in that place I was talking about. ICE laboratories."

"And where is that?" Harry asked impatiently, ignoring his dread. He remembered what Than had said about ICE labs. There was so much information being given out so suddenly, he felt like he was being overwhelmed.

"You'll find all of your answers at their HQ." Than shifted, crossing his arms as if he was uncomfortable. "You really, really need to ask yourself if it's worth it, though. You might discover some things about yourself that you won't like."

Tom's expression darkened. "You keep on saying that."

"People have gone insane in that place," Than replied. "Of course I'm going to warn you."

"What . . . goes on in there?" Tom asked hesitantly.

"Experiments, mostly," Than said in a bored monotone. "There isn't much security, since they moved the Headquarters. I mean, the only way to get to HQ is through a portal, and the only people that have the ability to portal – that they're aware of – are directly involved with ICE. So, they don't have to worry about security. They probably will have cameras monitoring the rooms holding the experiments."

"They can do that?" Tom asked incredulously.

Harry reminded himself, he was in the 30's, where technology wasn't quite as advanced. He wasn't sure if they had security cameras on every sidewalk back then. In fact, he wasn't even sure they had movies with sound and color yet. . . . He missed the 21st century. It was so much nicer to have subways, and faster moving cars (even though he apparate, it was easier to travel by subway in a highly populated area), and wear t-shirts, jean trousers, and running shoes.

"Yes," Than said. "They can do that. They also have sticks with death coming out of the ends."

Tom glared at him. "I'm not an idiot. Stop patronizing me."

"You'd have to check the records," Then continued. "Look for your name. If they don't have anything, then they've never seen you. That means get out of there as fast as possible before they _do_ see you and get tempted to experiment on you. If your name is in the database, then get out there even faster. They have an unnatural love of causing torture to previous 'specimens'. In face, better yet, just don't go."

Tom shook his head. "I have to know. I have to."

Than rolled his eyes. "Do you really have to know? I'll never understand why people like you are so interested in their roots."

"You aren't?" Harry asked. "Inspecting ICE seems like it would be important."

"You, too?" Than asked wearily. "Whatever. You'd might as well just open a portal and go. There's really no preparing for ICE."

Tom looked frustrated. "I can't open a portal! I've tried, and it doesn't work."

Than shrugged, walking back towards the Great Hall. "Then you must not really want to know."

When he finally wasn't in sight, Tom let his anger show. "UGH!"

The smaller boy paced irritably, his wand held in hand. Harry went a little tense, half expecting Tom to throw a curse at him or something. Instead Tom stowed his wand away, and frowned in concentration. He stopped pacing, staring at one place as if he had become suddenly the most interesting corner made out of gray stones in the world.

"I really need to know," Tom muttered.

A dark portal opened up behind him.

Harry choked, nearly dropped his leftover roll from dinner. "Uh, Tom –"

"I'm concentrating."

"No, really, you should –"

"Quiet! I'm thinking."

"But if you look behind –"  
Tom whirled around. "What part of quiet do you no . . ." He finally noticed the portal. "Why didn't you tell me a portal had opened?"

"_What_?" Harry yelled. "What do you think I was trying to tell you when you were 'concentrating?'"

Tom rolled his eyes, studying the portal. "Well, you could have tried harder."

_Forgive me if I'm afraid of getting my head hexed off,_ Harry thought.

Tom straightened, taking out his wand. "Well, I'm going."

Harry jerked in surprise. "Are you insane?"

Tom walked through the portal without a reply.

"He's insane." Harry said, staring at the portal in shock. "Completely insane."

Then the portal started to get smaller, fading out slightly. Harry groaned inwardly, realizing that there was no way he could just let Tom go off on his own. Tom, while he was very talented with magic, didn't know the beginnings on how to fight and defend himself. He would be totally defenseless if something attacked him, which meant someone would have to protect him.

Seeing that no one was stepping forward and volunteering to protect him, and that the portal was closing too quickly for Harry to get help, the job was left to him. Just perfect. Harry always wanted to be Tom Riddle's bodyguard, really. He had never guessed this would happen. He was sure the Fates were laughing at him right as of now.

He ran through the portal after Tom, pulling his wand out. He held his wand in front of him, but nearly dropped it when the cold hit him. It was like being thrown into an intensely freezing, windy day. His breath was sucked out of his lungs, and his limbs felt like they were immediately going into hypothermia. A heating spell did nothing but remind him how warm he could be as the cold darkness snatched the warmth away.

Just as he thought he was going to be stuck in darkness forever, he burst into light. He closed his eyes, disoriented by the suddenly brightness. The heat of the room seemed to seep into his skin, which felt so wonderfully nice . . . it was bliss. He never wanted to be stuck in such coldness again. It was like walking through Dementor's breath.

A hand grabbed his shoulder, and he shouted, "_expelliarmus!_"

There was a yelp, and a wand flew into his hand. Harry opened his eyes, and saw a seething Tom Riddle.

"Sorry."

"Mind giving that back?" Tom bit out irritably.

Harry handed him his wand back sheepishly.

They turned around, just as a door banged open and a familiar person practically flew into the room. The person slammed the door shut behind them, and turned around, breathing heavily.

"_Nico?_"

Nico jumped, and finally noticed them. "Tom? Harry? How'd you get here?"

"How did _you_ get here?" Tom retorted.

"Followed a monster with glowing tentacles through a portal," Nico deadpanned. "You?"

"What?" Tom and Harry chorused.

Something shook the door, and Nico took a few steps back. "Never mind. That's not important. Right now, we should worry about the whale trying to eat us."

* * *

**A/N: Don't kill me! And I know the title of this chapter is the same as the previous chapter. That's because the FF is having yet ANOTHER problem, so I can't make a new document for this chapter. Ugh. Sooo annoying! **

**So yeah. It's taken me a whole MONTH to get this chapter out, sorry! I had a major writer's block, coupled with a general lack of interest. Plus I've been very distracted with a bunch of new books I just got...Yeah, I really don't have a good excuse. The next chapter will come out sooner (I hope). **

**Thank you for the reviews! I love reviews! They make writing worth the time and effort and life that it sucks out of me...So tell me what you think of this! If something needs to be changed, or if you have questions. I'll answer the questions. I just need to figure out how to PM people back who review. Till next time!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter Nineteen**

**History of the ICE Wolf**

Jason was sure he had made a mistake the moment he agreed to follow the scientist lady. There was something wrong with that woman, besides for the fact she was involved with inhumane experiments that _couldn't_ be legal. She seemed curious of them, but not the _I-wonder-how-they-got-in_ type of curious. It was more like the_ I-wonder-what-their-insides-look-like-under-a-microscope_ type of curiosity, which was enough to put anyone on edge.

Piper, Nico, and the twins were trailing behind the scientist with him. Piper looked at some of the lab 'specimens' with a disturbed expression, while Nico somehow managed to keep his face straight every time they passed something that looked like it had been molded from gelatin and covered in sand (and it looked just like that, as odd sounding as it is). The twins were distracted by their new pet, George the telkhine.

Or rather, Piper was glaring at the scientist every time they passed a 'specimen', Nico looked like his normal self, and the twins were _still_ arguing over the telkhine.

The halls were long and straight, with glossy white flooring and white walls, so it resembled a hospital. There were several doors along the halls, which led into operating rooms filling with metal tables and what looked like torture devices. The few people they passed didn't even spare them a second glance, as if seeing disheveled kids (they were still waiting for the potion to wear off) with ripped up, dirtied, and bloodied clothes was normal.

Jason didn't like it there. He wondered if all the mortals were actually aliens in disguise or something. Maybe they were waiting to dissect them. Or eat their brains. Or they were monsters waiting to kill them. None of those thoughts were helping him relax in the slightest.

"I suppose you're wondering where you are," the woman finally said.

"Sort of," Jason replied.

"Sort of?" Ivan echoed incredulously. "Most definitely."

The woman pursed her lips. "I am Dr. Lenne Cirone. You are?"

Jason glanced at the others, reluctant to tell her anything.

Aiden snorted. "I'm Aiden Revelden. That's my brother, Ivan. Don't worry – you won't find anything on us in your database."

Dr. Cirone narrowed her eyes at them. "That specimen you're holding –"

"His name is George, and he's a telkhine, not a specimen," Aiden interrupted.

"That telkhine you're holding is a valuable addition to our laboratories. You can't just take anything you see out of those tanks," she said disapprovingly. "Some of the animals in here are dangerous and are to be only handled by experts."

Jason thought that they all qualified as experts. They had saved the world so many times he lost count. That had to add up to something.

Dr. Cirone motioned to two large men standing idly around in the halls outside one of the labs. Inside the lab, a rather large hellhound was going nuts. It smashed into the walls, upturned tables, sent tons of what Jason was sure was 'precious information' flying up into the air like confetti. The hellhound's tail swiped a few thousand dollars worth of expensive computers off another table, and them rammed its head into the glass window, which created a few cracks but didn't break it.

_Putting in an order for ten new laptop computers as well as half a hospital of surgical tools. A hellhound ate them. _

During the entire time the hellhound was throwing its temper tantrum, the two lab hands hadn't looked a bit worried. And when the glass cracked, they still didn't look as worried as they should have, since there was a furious hellhound rampaging in the room right behind them. Any normal person would have run away a few minutes ago. Obviously these two men were anything but normal.

"You two!" Dr. Cirone snapped. "Take care of the telkhine."

Aiden frowned, but Ivan elbowed him in the ribs. "It's a _telkhine_, Aiden! You can find another on the next trip the ocean."

Aiden glared at the beefy men. "They might hurt him."

Ivan rolled his eyes. "You're being very immature."

"Am not," Aiden replied, then stuck his tongue out at his brother.

Ivan gave him a flat, unamused expression, which Aiden groaned at. "Ugh! Fine. Gods, you're like a stick in the mud these days!"

The elder twin didn't reply as Aiden handed George the Telkhine to the men – very reluctantly. The men walked down the hall the way they had come from, with the telkhine in hand. Jason had a feeling they wouldn't be seeing George ever again.

"So, before the telkhine," Ivan said, addressing Dr. Cirone, "you were going to tell us where we are?"

"You are in ICE laboratories," Dr. Cirone replied with a slight smile. "Industry of Clone Experimentation. It – well, I'll save the history lesson for the director. He takes great pride in ICE. We used to be only a project related to cloning technologies, but we have since then moved on to much more than that."

"Then why's it still called ICE?" Jason asked.

"It's more tradition," Dr. Cirone said with a surprisingly warm smile. "We take great pride in our history and works."

"Works?" Piper questioned. There was strong doubt and suspicion on her face.

Dr. Cirone waved it off, pausing a moment to accept a clipboard from a passing scientist in a lab coat. She frowned at the report – or at least, Jason guessed it was a report of some kind. She seemed to running the place, checking on people as they passed the man labs and operating rooms. This particular reported definitely didn't please her as much as the other ones had.

Her lifted the paper, and then slammed it down, strong irritation written across her face. She practically shoved the clipboard back at the scientist. "Prep for surgery. I'll be there as soon as I'm free."

The other scientist nodded and walked, moving through a set of swinging doors into another lab on the left of the hall.

Dr. Cirone closed her eyes, massaging her temples. "That specimen is going to be the death of me."

"What?" Jason asked, wondering why he felt like he should be asking 'who'?

The older woman shook her head dismissively. "It's nothing to worry your heads about. Not that you could possibly understand the complexities of the experiment."

Aiden snorted. "Don't hold back."

"Nothing wrong with the truth," Ivan said teasingly, ignoring Aiden's protesting "hey!" and punch.

Piper smiled, putting a little charmspeak into her voice as she said, "There's nothing wrong with a little ranting."

Jason raised his eyebrows questioningly at her. Clearly Piper really, _really _didn't trust Dr. Cirone to use charmspeak on her. Piper was against abusing her gift of charmspeak, which could influence – even force a person, if she tried hard enough – to do whatever she asked. Even hand over a BMW for free, or give out the secrets of bringing back the dead, without zombie-fying them. . . . They had been desperate, the world ending and all.

Dr. Cirone opened her mouth, frowned and then closed it. She shook her head and sighed. "I would love to, but it's classified."

Piper gave Dr. Cirone a flat disbelieving look. "We're already here, seeing classified things."

"True," Dr. Cirone admitted. "But what you haven't seen, should stay like that. As well as heard," she added when Piper started to talk again.

Piper closed her mouth sheepishly.

"That being said," Dr. Cirone went on. "This project has been one of the hardest, most irritating, and mentally trying that I have ever tackled. The specimen simply _refuses_ to let itself become malleable for our tests. I'm going to have to manually do surgery to ensure its cooperation because of its rebellious attitude."

They passed through a set of double doors, moving to the side as a group of scientists ran through, nearly slamming the doors into their faces. They didn't seem to notice their superior's look of intense annoyance. They also didn't stop a second to make sure they didn't break any noses in their hurry to go whatever they were going.

"Excuse me?" Dr. Cirone snapped. "What is going on?"

One of the scientist the back, a young woman with short golden hair and blue eyes stopped, looking at Dr. Cirone with dread. "Uh . . ."

"Well?"

"Specimen 24," the girl said, fidgeting. "The tests are just happening now, and we were curious . . ."

Dr. Cirone rolled her eyes. "Make sure you don't run into anymore people on your way there. And I sincerely doubt that you will be seeing anything of any worth during the 'tests'. That particular specimen is as stubborn as they come."

"O-oh," the girl stuttered. "I-I'm going to go now."

She whirled around and scurried away at a very fast walk – not a run, of course. Totally not a run.

Jason was confused. "Tests?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," she snapped.

Then they passed a wide glass window, and all five demigods stopped in their tracks. Nico, who had been trailing behind them in silence, ran into Ivan's back and let out a muffled yelp. Ivan stumbled, holding onto Aiden. Aiden wasn't expecting Ivan to suddenly grab him, and with what was in that room, which he was watching with horror, he jumped about a foot off the ground.

There was a giant . . . _thing_ in there. It had two large gray fin-like things on its sides, and a long face, its mouth closed and curved so it looked like it was smiling. Two very small eyes were closed, and a long finned tail was splayed out on the ground behind it. Its back was hunched slightly, giving it the appearance of an albino whale.

"What is that?!" Aiden asked, his voice a little high.

Oh, and it was about fifty feet long.

"How big is this place?" Piper muttered, looking down the length of the creature's room/prison/cavern.

Jason thought the halls were about ten feet wide, at least. They were fairly spacious, when there weren't crowds of mad scientists running around and almost breaking noses. However, this monster was at the very least fifteen feet wide. . . . If it got out, there would be a lot of destruction, since there was no way possible it could fit in the halls. Speaking of which, how did the scientists even get it in there?

The only door Jason saw was the one meant for humans. How _did_ they get the monster whale in there?

"Well, my childhood nightmares are true," Aiden deadpanned. "Monstro is real. And Ivan is a liar."

Ivan let out a laugh. "Monstro was bigger."

"Whatever," Aiden muttered. "It's still terrifying."

"It looks like a whale," Jason said doubtfully.

"A whale," Aiden repeated, as if that explained everything.

Dr. Cirone sighed again, having walked several paces before realizing they weren't following. She straightened her glasses and then said, "that is specimen 200. It has proven difficult to control."

"You seem to have a lot of control issues around here," Nico muttered.

Dr. Cirone aimed a glare at Nico, and was miffed when he wasn't affected in the least. It took a lot more than a glare from a mortal scientist to make the son of Hades squirm in discomfort. Jason had only seen Nico look unnerved a few times, and he figured it would take an act of the gods to make Nico ever cringe again. With all the weirdness that was coming to light lately . . . nothing surprised any of them anymore.

"So where is the Director?" Jason asked. Hopefully it wouldn't a ten mile hike, like how it had with Percy, Hazel, and Frank when they were captured by the Amazons. They had been marched through an underground complex nearly the size of the Underworld.

"In his office," Dr. Cirone replied.

Well, that was oh, so helpful.

"Are we there yet?" Aiden asked a few minutes later.

"Don't even start," Ivan growled.

"Are we –"

Ivan tackled him. Aiden gasped for breath as he put in a chokehold for the second time in a period of about an hour. "Okay, okay! Let me go!"

Nico ruffled the twin's hair. "Be good."

Dr. Cirone cleared her throat. "Excuse me?"

"You're excused," Ivan grumbled.

"Bloody toad," Aiden said in the same tone.

"We're here," Dr. Cirone went on, either ignoring or not hearing the twin's comments.

They stopped arguing at once, and faced her. They stood in front of a plain wooden door, which could belong to any kind of office. There was a window, which was bubbled so it was impossible to see inside. Jason had never thought it was possible for a doorknob to look foreboding, but this doorknob was giving it its best shot.

Dr. Cirone knocked softly on the door, and turned the knob. She opened the door, and, as horribly cliché as it sounded, a draft of cold air hit them. Jason didn't know the beginning of who the 'Director' was, but he definitely kept his office at the temperature of an ice box. It was like stepping into Boreas's penthouse in Quebec, Canada. Or walking anywhere near the Boreas cabin at Camp Half-Blood, courtesy of Felix.

Dr. Cirone stepped inside, for the first time since they saw her looking a little nervous. Whatever she saw inside wasn't what she expected, though. She immediately dropped the timidity and a scowl formed on her face. She crossed her arms indignantly at whoever was occupying the Director's office instead of the Director himself.

"What are _you_ doing here?" She demanded.

Jason and Piper walked into the spacious office together. The walls were painted dark blue, and there was mahogany desk a few yards directly in front of them. The tall-backed chair behind it was vacant, much to their relief. There was ceiling fan flowing freezing cold air down, but it wasn't of that which caught Jason's attention and kept it.

The floor was every color of the rainbow. Uniform squares of yellow, red, orange, green, and a ton of other colors scattered across the floor. It was like a child's play house, or looking inside a kaleidoscope. Jason thought that whoever did floor either let a preschooler pick out the colors, or was mentally insane. He was afraid that he would get a seizure if he stared at the acidly-bright floor for too long.

When they finally raised tore their gaze from the floor, they saw an old man. He had weather-beaten skin, with wisps of white hair and large brown eyes behind a pair of thick glasses. He looked up from a metal table, which had some kind of creature that looked like a wolf made of ice on it. That explained the freezing temperature of the office. His face was one of surprise, amusement, and slight impatience all at the same time.

"Why, thank you for asking," said the man. He turned to the ice-wolf-creature-thing on the table. "I'm examining this wonderful specimen. As you know, ice wolves are very important to the history of ICE and –"

"Marvelous," Dr Cirone said dryly. "Now where is the Director?"

"Eh?" The old man fidgeted with his hearing aids. "What was that?"

"You heard me." Dr Cirone snapped.

"Whaaaat?" The old man drawled out.

The twins, who had joined Jason and Piper with Nico, fought off snickers.

"Who ever said old people don't have a sense of humor?" Aiden grinned.

"Oi!" the old man yelled. "I'm not old!"

"Oh, you heard _that_," Ivan grumbled.

"Whatever," the old man grumbled. "My name is Dr Jonson. I'm fillin' in for the Director while he's occupied with his current project."

"Of all the people he could have chosen," Dr Cirone mumbled under her breath.

"Hehe, yes," Dr Jonson waved her away. "Well, shoo. Off with yah. Yer not needed in here."

Dr Cirone aimed a glare at Dr Jonson. "If I hear that you've been spilling company secrets again, Jonson . . ."

"Tch, no worries," Dr Jonson replied. "I'll be good."

Dr Cirone glowered at him one more time before leaving the office. She didn't need her own personal blizzard to feel as chilly as Khione when she was obviously angry. The door was shut behind her with controlled patience – if she hadn't been forced to keep a professional air, Jason didn't doubt she would have slammed it – and she disappeared. Hopefully for good, since neither he nor Piper liked her at all.

Unfortunately, now they were in an office with another scientist, who looked a lot more eccentric than any of the others they had ran into on the way here. Dr Jonson's lab coat wasn't as pristine as the others, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His T-shirt had a picture of a stick figure and the word "Randomosity" written on it. He had a pair of jeans and running shoes on. If it weren't for the scalpel and the lab coat, he look like someone's crazy grandfather.

Or maybe it was the scalpel and lab coat that made him look like a crazy grandfather . . .

Dr Jonson set the scalpel down – much to Jason's relief – and rested his hands on his hips. "What are five kids like you doin' in here?"

"Sight seeing," Jason answered.

"Ah, yes," Dr Jonson said. "Nothin' like the sight of a tortured animal with a white backdrop, am I right?"

Jason glanced at Piper, unsure whether or not the old man was joking. "Um . . ."

"I was kiddin'," Dr Jonson said flatly. "Now really, what're you five doin' here? It's just askin' to disappear off that face of the world."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Piper asked.

Dr Jonson gave her a pointed look. "Yer in ICE HQ, girl. Whadaya think is goin' to happen?"

Apparently they all wore identical looks of confusion, because the old man sighed and gestured for them to come closer to the animal on the operating table. Jason didn't want to get anywhere near the poor animal, but he also wanted to know what the Hades was going in ICE laboratories, why Dr Jonson was implying that it was so horrible, and what all the monsters were doing in the hands of _mortal_ scientists in the first place.

Once he got closer, Piper and Nico flanking his left and right, he could see the animal clearer. It did indeed look like a wolf, but its fur was jagged and glittered faintly, like a fresh coat of snow. A few steps more and Jason realized that the wolf looked like snow because its fur was _ice_. Tiny icicles made up its entire coat, tapping together whenever the wolf breathed in so it sounded like a bunch of wind chimes.

"What is it?"

Dr Jonson shrugged. "No clue. But this creature, to ICE, is sacred."

"Why?" Jason asked. He could help but feel sorry for the wolf. It didn't look like an animal meant for captivity (though what animal was?), it looked like it was meant to be running free in the Antarctic or something.

Dr Jonson pursed his lips, looking at the animal with sympathy. "The Director's grandfather started ICE. It was initially a project meant for the clonin' of endangered animals, to help their numbers grow until they didn't need the help of science to keep their species alive. The Director's grandfather was in Antarctica to check up on some of the animals, when he found this," Jonson motioned at the icy wolf. "he brought it back, and came to the conclusion that there was only one of its kind in the world."

"Wait, so this thing is how old?" Nico asked.

Jonson snorted. "This isn't the original. Since then over a thousand of these wolves have been cloned. However, the problem was in the Director's father. He was clear-sighted – yes, I know who yeh are," he said at their shocked faces, "so he could see many more things than his father could. That's when ICE started goin' off track. It still does clone things, yes, but it's not just animals that are cloned, and it's not technically clonin' anymore."

Piper's eyes widened. "They're . . ."

"Makin' their own monsters, yes," Jonson finished. "And even worse, they've been trying to take the traits of demigods, monsters, magicians, and wizards and put them into average mortals."

The implications were severe, but made sense to Jason. Yet . . . "Why are you telling us all of this?"

Jonson grinned crookedly. "Yer not the only one with a few secrets."

"You're a demigod?" Jason blurted in surprise – just when he thought he couldn't get more surprised . . . the universe must hate him.

"A wizard, actually. Demigods and technology don't really mix, and while its hard sometimes as a wizard, it not nearly as difficult as being a demigod or magician." Jonson added with a smile, "I'd have been caught a good time ago it it weren't for the _confundus_ spell . . ."

"Why would you –"

"_Obliviate_ has saved my neck a few times as well . . . what were yeh saying?" Jonson snapped out of his daze.

Jason wasn't sure if Jonson was acting like he couln't hear on purpose, or if he honestly couldn't hear. "Why are you undercover here in the first place?"

"Did yeh hear anythin' I said, boy?" Jonson raised his eyebrows incredulously. "Human experiments! I can't just sit back and let that happen! I make sure an occasional 'accident' happens, like all the security systems in the holding areas go down long enough for intelligent creatures to get out. Little things. No one's noticed yet."

"Oh."

"There was a little girl here a few days ago," Jonson went on. "About eleven years old. Mara Sparrow. They released her."

Piper gasped. "Mara Sparrow?"

"Katelle's demonic sister?" Aiden said in alarm. "They let her go?"

Ivan elbowed him.

Jason noticed Nico frowning slightly at the twins. Jason hadn't noticed it at first, but the twins argued _way_ more than they used to. They used to be two parts of a whole, always finishing each other sentences, but now it was as if they were out of align. Aiden was just as cheerful as before (maybe a little brain dead at times), while Ivan sometimes looked like he held the weight of the world on his shoulders.

It couldn't just be the time traveling thing, though getting booted out of one's time couldn't be good for a person's mental health. There had to be something else going on. They hadn't spoken up yet, but that didn't mean anything. If they were anything like Nico, they'd wait and wait and wait until whatever was wrong built up inside them, and then just exploded out. Jason just hoped he hadn't done anything to insult the twins if it happened . . . That would be potentially painful.

Nico looked back at Jonson. "Why are you here in the first place? I understand you're helping, but why?"

Jonson shrugged. "I always wanted to be scientist, even when I was a little lad. When I found my magic, I was thrilled, yes, but I was always more excited about the progressions of muggle science. It helps that my parents were scientists as well. After I graduated Hogwarts – top of my year, of course – I sorely disappointed my professors by going to a muggle university for Bioengineering."

"Bio-what?" Jason mumbled, looking at Piper for help.

"Bioengineering," Jonson said patiently. "In layman's terms: using the techniques of engineering and applying it to living organisms."

"Oh," Jason said. That made about as much sense as the color of the floor. "Okay."

"Yeh don't get it," Jonson snorted. "But back to the question at hand – I got my PhD in bioengineering and jumped around from job to job. I worked up a reputation until I was invited to work here at ICE as one of the top scientists. When I found out about the experiments they were doing, my first reaction was to leave. However, I couldn't just leave all those innocent people here in good conscience, so I stayed. I've been helpin' here and there over the past few decades."

Decades. Jason couldn't help but mentally shake his head. Jonson said 'decades' like they were only a few weeks.

Jonson turned back to the ice wolf, and Jason scrounged up his courage to ask, "what are you doing?"

"With this guy?" Jonson scratched the behind the wolf's ear. "He's got a little cyst that needs to be removed. I'm taking care of it while the others are being held up. The animals have been overly aggressive lately, and its taking a tole. Good thing living here for several years has taught me the basics of just about all the fields of sciences involved with ICE."

Piper relaxed slightly. Jason knew she had been afraid – and he had been a little worried, too – that the wolf was being used for some immoral experiment. From what they had heard so far from Jonson, they wouldn't put it past any of the scientists with ICE to do something like that. And to think that Mara Sparrow had been there only a few days before – Katelle's sister or not, she was a child. She shouldn't have been in a place like that.

"You five will want to be leavin' soon," Jonson said. He looked at the clock over on the wall, above the chair. "There's goin' to be a five minute window openin' up in about ten minutes. All the security locks on everythin' in this whole complex are goin' to fail. There's goin' to be chaos and apocalypse, but yeh'll be able to get out of this place before the Director is even aware yer here."

"Wait – _all_ the locks?" Piper asked in alarm. "Including the monsters?"

"Can't discriminate," Jonson said with a grin. "It'd look deliberate if only the human locks opened up every single time. Then they'd know it was someone on the inside tamperin' with the security. _Obliviate_ only works so many times, I should know."

"Ten minutes?" Jason repeated to himself. "How do we get out?"

"With this," Jonson pulled out a device similar to the one Katelle had used to find anomalies. "There's a barrier up that prevents anomalies from opening up in here for longer than a few seconds – not long enough to safely go through one. When the locks go down, so will the barrier. You know how to use these things, right?"

Jason, Piper, and Nico looked at the twins. Ivan shrugged. "I know how to open an anomaly, I just don't know how to pinpoint the time."

Jonson nodded. "No worries – it's plenty simple. All yeh have to do is have a secure date located, and it'll act as a time line." He held out the device for them to see, where a small golden dot was blinking on a golden arching line. "See? This opens an anomaly to 2050."

"Uh, over-shooting it a bit, there," Jason said.

Jonson fiddled with the device, and then pocketed it. "This is only a practice, to figure out the hoops. The working devices are down two floors, in lab 13. It'll take a while to get there, so I'd hurry."

Piper smiled, "thank you."

"Oh, it's nothing, truly," Jonson replied, turning back to the wolf. "Ger yerselves out of here, though. Yeh don't want to know what they do to demigods like you."

Jason didn't need to be told twice. With mumbled 'thanks' they quickly left the office. As soon as they stepped outside, there was a crash and a scream. Then the doors and part of the wall blew in as a huge monster slammed its way down the hall. Dust billowed in the air, making it hard to see clearly. Jason and Piper were mostly safe from the blast, since the doors were several yards away.

It was the whale monster. It propelled itself along with its fins, tearing up the walls as it went, with surprising speed. As soon as its beady black eyes set of them, the demigods knew they were its Number One Supreme target. Four children of the Big Three together in one place was asking for a monster attack, even in a supposed 'safe' environment like the labs.

Jason noticed the door leading down stairs. "Any chances it'll follow us down a bunch of stairs?"

The monster tore another wall to pieces as it moved for them.

"Likely," Nico replied. He twisted his ring and Tenebris appeared in his hand. "You four head down stairs – I'll distract the monster and shadow-travel somewhere safe, and then meet up with you on the second floor."

Ivan and Aiden were instantly against. "What? Wait, we can't leave you –"

The monster opened its mouth and bellowed out a sound that was a mix between a train horn and a screaming donkey.

"Okay. That sounds good."

Nico rolled his eyes at them. "Just _go_."

* * *

**A/N: Well, there goes another chapter...Now I have to do another one. This taking longer then I thought it would :D **

**zion64: Thanks for sticking around this whole time! I hope this chapter was good. **

**(Sorry for not replying in the last chapter - consequences of finishing up at 3 AM... I wasn't exactly coherent, lol).**

**epikness101: The Egyptians haven't been in here so far because there would be too many characters. Honestly, there's already too many. I don't know what I was thinking when I added Draco Malfoy, Snape, AND Dumbledore. They're cool to have in there, yeah, but they're not necessary to the plot. The Egyptians might make a cameo in a future chapter. **

**nic923: lol, yeah. Knowing that your godly parent isn't even born yet in times like the Cretaceous period would be very disorienting for the demigods. **

**I know I said this would be over in about five chapters (that was what, two, three chapters ago?)...yeah. It'll probably be a little longer then that. I should know by now to to guesstimate how long the story is going to be. So the next chapter will be Nico meeting up with Tom and Harry! And I was thinking about doing a one-shot prompt. Anyone got any ideas? And reviews are always appreciated :)**


	20. Chapter 20

As requested (*cue dramatic music*): OC List:

Katelle Sparrow: half-blood daughter of Kronos, lost any powers she might have had during the time spell that sent her and everyone else back to the year 1938. She's got a complicated past with time travel.

Allan Saures: A clone of the original Allan, who Katelle saved because she couldn't bare to let go of Allan.

Than Weasley (fake name, real name is unknown at the moment, and I'm not telling yet! :D): Another time traveler. . . . Any more than that would be spoilers . . . Sorry. (Not really, LOL).

Theon Azule: Half-blood son of Hermes, gifted with incredible speed. He's had some problems with time travel as well, but bounced back into his usual pranking habits rather quickly . . .

Mara Sparrow: Katelle's sister. . . . Yeah. That's pretty much it. For now (bwahaha)

Draven Thorne: Evil dude with a god complex. Wears black robes that might or might not have been unintentionally ripped off from Kingdom Heart's Organization XIII. I didn't mean to, honestly. I realized _after_ I watched the cutscenes (I don't have the right console to play the game, .) that it looked a bit like the good ole Org's robes.

Dr. Jonson: Scientist filler dude. Ph.D in Biochemistry Won't show up again, but he was fun writing.

Dr. Lenne Cirone: Another scientist filler lady. Probably won't appear again.

Professor/Doctor/Director Inosi Yohanin: An evil guy. Part time job as the Charms professor, on top of being ICE Direcror and having a Ph.D in Bioengineering.

Christine Willison: And unimportant OC filler that won't show up again. Head of ADAM, which was joined with ICE.

. . . I think that's it. Any other OC's I forgot to mention probably shouldn't have introduced in the first place, if I can't remember them.

* * *

**Chapter Twenty**

**The Fates Really Hate Nico**

Volunteering himself to act as a diversion wasn't his brightest idea.

Nico was still reeling from the amount of information that was dumped on him thanks to Dr. Jonson. The implications were severe. Mortal scientists with the power of demigods, wizards, _and_ magicians? There was a very good reason why the mortal world was separated from any other worlds, and it was to prevent things like this from happening. Well, that and world apocalypse, but let's face it, Nico and his friends were used to apocalypse.

It would have happened eventually. Some mortals were born clear-sighted, and it just was too much that the Fates could make it so all the clear-sighted mortals had the world's best interest in mind. He just wished that it hadn't happened in his lifetime. Then again, it wouldn't have really mattered, given the fact time travel was involved. It could have started five hundred years in the future and they would have gotten involved anyway.

It seemed Fate didn't know the meaning of the words, "Not interested."

Why would mortals want godly blood anyway? All it did was attract monsters and bad luck. Seriously, it wasn't worth it. At all. It didn't even lengthen the average lifespan. If anything, it shortened a person's lifespan because the monsters thought anyone with godly blood tasted like gourmet. If only monsters liked eating Monster Donuts all the time. Nico would have to find a way to get them on a non-demigod diet after this.

A wall exploded to his right, sending debris whistling dangerously close to his face and thoroughly wrecking his train of thought. Not that it wasn't a train wreck to begin with. The whale-thing, which Nico had affectionately named Monstro, had chucked a slab of metal that was once an operating table at the wall. Nico really wanted to know what Monstro used to be, and how he could breathe above water.

A few screaming scientists dove into labs as Nico ran by with Monstro at his heels. Had Nico's Stygian Iron sword literally done nothing to Monstro only a few moments ago, and the monster wasn't chasing him at a mad pace for being on fins, he would have been amused at the terrified, yet unsurprised faces of the scientists. It seemed escaped 'specimens' was a common occurrence around this place. He wondered if Jonson had anything to do with that.

Nico ducked as another table went flying at his head and lodged itself in the wall ahead of him. He wheeled around the corner, briefly wondering how much the damage the monster had caused was going to cost.

He nearly plowed into a male scientist with blond hair. He seemed to be completely unaware of the chaos happening only a few hundred yards away from him. The man looked up from his clipboard with a confused frown as Nico sprinted at him, and then yelped as he shoved the scientist through a pair of swinging double doors into a lab, out of the line of fire.

Nico shadow-traveled a few yards ahead, so he could keep a good distance from the monster. He passed another lab, which he recognized as the one with the hellhound that was wrecking everything. Well, the hellhound was still full of energy and it was still attacking the glass and everything else ferociously. The two men in front of lab still looked unmovable, if a little bored from standing in the same spot of who gods know how long.

That was, until they saw the monster behind Nico. The two scientists made a split-second decision and ran for cover in the lab that they were stationed outside of. Then they remembered the rather large hellhound. The last thing Nico saw of them was the two men running circles around the room with the angry hellhound nipping at their heels.

Nico noticed something shiny, silver, and opening on the far wall. An elevator.

He shadow-traveled the rest of the way to the elevator and hammered the 'close doors' button repeatedly. The doors closed, and just before the hall was blocked from sight, he saw a very, very angry monster crashing through the walls after him. Hopefully it wouldn't be desperate enough to follow him down the elevator. . . . Not that it could fit in the elevator, but he wouldn't put it past Monstro to try.

"Hurry up, hurry up," Nico urged under his breath, ignoring the peaceful elevator music. How long did it take an elevator to go down one level?

There was a terrible shrieking sound, and the top of the elevator crumpled in as if something very large and vaguely whale-shaped had landed on it. Nico didn't have to use his imagination to wonder what it was. It seemed the monster was hungry enough for demigod blood to try and follow him down the elevator shaft. It shouldn't have surprised him.

Nico muttered a quick prayer that the elevator was close to the floor, and twisted his skull ring. Tenebris sprang into his hand, and he cut a large chunk of steel out of the wall. He kicked it in, and was relieved to see the white tiles of the floor below him. He was jarred roughly before he could cut anymore of the wall out as the monster above the elevator ceiling pounded at the weakened metal.

He reverted Tenebris back to ring form, and eyed the opening warily. He should be skinny enough to fit through there, and if worse came to worse, he could just shadow-travel onto the floor. However, it would still be embarrassing if he got stuck, shadow-travel or not. Luckily there was no one there to see, but still . . . his pride.

He slipped through easily – thank the gods – and received the curious and confused looks of a few passing scientists. He ignored those looks. "Um, you guys might want to take cover. There's a large monster coming this way."

Several of their faces fell, and one even rolled her eyes, and they all scattered.

Nico kicked the door open and practically dove into the lab, slamming to door closed behind him and locking it to prevent any scientists from coming in. He would lay low in here until the monster ran by, and hope that the monster wouldn't smell him or anything, and then double back. . . . Except the elevator was broken beyond repair. He would double back _somehow_.

He spun around, and nearly had a heart attack when he saw he wasn't alone. Before he switched into cornered-demigod mode, he realized who the 'strangers' were.

"_Nico?_" Harry exclaimed.

"Tom? Harry? How'd you get here?" Nico asked incredulously.

"How did _you_ get here," Tom countered, rather then just answering Nico's question.

"Followed a monster with glowing tentacles through a portal," Nico replied in a hurry. "You?"

"What?" the other two boys asked in unison.

The door buckled behind Nico. He took a few hasty steps away from the door, resisting the urge to sigh with irritation. Turned out the whale had a good sense of smell. Or hearing. Any of the two could have tipped it off to Nico being in this lab. "Never mind. That's not important. Right now, we should worry about the whale trying to eat us."

"What." Tom said flatly.

"Not important," Nico said again. "I can just shadow-travel back up, and hopefully leave the monster behind. We've only got a few minutes until Jonson shuts down the shields and we can get out of here."

"Wait – wait a second!" Tom protested, waving his arms around. "I came here for answers!"

"We don't have time for that," Nico said, glowering at Tom. "There's a short window of time for us to get out this place. Trust me when I say you don't want to get stuck here."

"Why? What's going on here?" Tom asked, ignoring Nico's glare.

"Sciencey stuff," Nico said vaguely. He held out his hands for them. "Now hold on while I shadow-travel."

"I'm not holding you hand," Tom scoffed.

"There's no need to run," a new voice said calmly from behind.

The three boys whirled around, facing the stranger. Nico opened and closed his mouth a few times, before managing to say, "_You?_"

Yohanin stepped closer, dressed in a charcoal suit. His beady eyes watched them, as if they were prizes he had worked hard for. He crossed his arms, one hand holding onto some kind of device, which Nico really didn't want know what it could do. It probably wasn't anything good, especially when Yohanin looked like he felt he had already won. Though what he was winning, Nico also had no clue.

"Yes, me." Yohanin pursed his lips, eyeing them severely. "Imagine, when I went to the year of 1938 and found several children who just didn't belong – names that didn't fit. You all stood out so painfully, I knew it wouldn't be hard to get to at least one of you." He smiled a little too brightly. "However, it seems I have more than one, so all the better. I've never managed to procure a child of Hades. I imagine the time ahead will be filled with much scientific discovery."

"What does this place have to do with me?" Tom asked bluntly. "I was told I could find answers here, but . . . unless . . ."

Yohanin smirked. "You probably don't remember. You were only three, and your mind couldn't handle the stress of our experiments. You were one of the first wizards we caught – in fact, we didn't even know you were a wizard at first! You were only a boy, who, according to all the records, dropped off the face of the planet after your seventeenth birthday. It wouldn't hurt anything if you just disappeared a few years earlier."

Nico and Harry glanced at Tom. Child or not, he was the young version of Voldemort, and he wasn't exactly mentally stable. Nico twitched to shadow-travel, since there was no doubt that the only things coming out of Yohanin's mouth would be manipulative and probably send Tom off the edge of sanity. It wasn't as if Yohanin could stop them, since he didn't look like he was armed. Even if he was, Nico could shadow-travel faster than someone like Yohanin could do anything.

Before Nico could move, Yohanin shook his finger at them as if they were naughty children, which was annoying. Very annoying.

"You don't think I came here unprepared?" He held up the device. "I've had all the time in the world to create this. Believe it or not, it actually nullifies demigod powers. You couldn't 'shadow-travel', as you call it, if you wanted to."

There was no way – Nico grabbed Harry's and Tom's wrists and concentrated on the shadows and . . . absolutely nothing happened.

"What did you do?" Nico snapped angrily.

"I did nothing," Yohanin said with another too-bright smile. "You see, I've been studying demigods and wizards and all things magical since before you two "heroes" were born." He sneered a little when he said 'heroes', which seemed even uglier when showing through his faked politeness. "But you, Tom Riddle," Yohanin shook his head. "You revolutionized my works. Were it not for me, chancing upon a such a child, I might have been ostracized from the scientific world for good! My only mistake was being a little . . . _too eager_. I took things too quickly, and well, you see the results."

Nico stiffened. "There's nothing wrong with Tom."

"Skin is only an inch deep," Yohanin replied. "_You_ see the outside, but what's happening on the _cellular_ level. . . . Well, that's another story. Being the first prototype, he was bound to have flaws. It was one of the reasons we let him go – there was no point in keeping a failure."

Ouch. Hated man or not, it was never easy hearing someone call you a failure. Nico knew from experience. How many times had his own father, Hades, thought he was a failure for not becoming the hero of the first Great Prophecy? They had gotten over that, in time, but it still stung. Nico had been angry, but he wasn't Tom Riddle, who could turn into a nutcase and go on a mass-murdering rampage toward those of "unworthy blood" at the flip of a coin.

"That's a lie!" Harry exploded. "Tom's not some experiment, and I won't let you talk about him like that!"

Yohanin made a noise of amusement in his throat. "What bravado! However, the thing keeping Nico from using his unique powers, is also blocking your magic. I meant what I said earlier: you are both completely powerless."

Nico, until that point, hadn't even been paying attention to Tom. Yohanin hadn't either, having been far to occupied gloating over them. Never mind the fact Harry was still armed with fists, and Nico had a perfectly functioning Stygian Iron sword that he was all too happy to run Yohanin through with. It seemed Yohanin was the one with the bravado going on, not Harry. However, villains always thought they were right.

The room suddenly seemed a little less crowded, until Nico realized it was because Tom was no longer standing right next to him. The dark-haired boy was moving around the edge of the room, strolling quite casually toward Yohanin's back with a metal chair held in both hand. He stopped a few strides from directly behind Yohanin, and let go of one side of the chair to tap on Yohanin's shoulder with a smirk.

"Never monologue when you think you've won," and Yohanin's head became intimately acquainted with the metal chair.

Yohanin collapsed into a boneless heap.

Nico darted forward and swept up the device, groaning when he saw it was similar to the anomaly devices in one big important way: it was overly complicated. "I hope this has a vicinity limit or something."

Harry looked at Tom, who was glaring at Yohanin's unconscious form. "Do you still want answers?"

Tom's eyes passed over the lab. It took him a few moments to formulate a reply. "Yes."

"Are you insa –"

"We don't have time," Nico said. "No pun intended. Really, we have literally minutes before the barrier goes down, and even less time to get out of here. Piper, Jason, and the twins are waiting for us a floor below."

Harry eyebrows rose up to his hairline. "They're here? The twins are here, too? How've they been and –"

"Later," Nico interrupted. "Let's just get out of here."

"He's right, Tom," Harry said apologetically. "We need to get out of here while we can. I'm sure we can find answers somewhere else."

Tom's eyes narrowed at Yohanin. "Or we could just bring him with us and interrogate him later."

"No time," Nico reminded them.

He eased open the lab door, peering outside into the hall. There were lines of destruction going down the walls and floor. The walls were bowed out, cracked and falling apart, scattering plaster and the remains of anything lining the hall on the ground. At the far end of the hall, the monster that had been chasing Nico earlier mulled about, looking almost bored. There seemed to be something white hanging out of its mouth, but he couldn't quite make out what it was.

Nico quietly stepped out a little farther, and his heart nearly stopped when he saw what was hanging out of the monster's mouth. It was a scientist, his lab coat surprisingly intact and clean, limply suspended in the whale-donkey-thing's mouth. Nico was about to start feeling slightly sick, when the scientist squirmed slightly, moaning something that sounded a lot like, "_please_ put me down, Bessie?"

The monster shook the very-much-alive scientist like a rag doll.

"Here's the plan," Nico whispered softly once he stepped back inside the room. "We can't take the stairs, since the monster's blocking it. On a good day I'd feel like killing it, but it looks content with its chew toy, so I'll let it be. Instead, we'll have the climb back up the elevator shaft – there's a large hole in the roof of the elevator itself, so getting in there won't be a problem."

"And we'll take the stairs the rest of the way down?" Harry finished.

"Exactly," Nico replied.

Tom sighed, and gave Yohanin's unconscious form one last look. "Pity we couldn't have at least tortured him a little for answers."

Nico didn't reply as he carefully guided the somewhat crazed boy out of the lab.

The group stepped out into the hallway, taking care not to trod on any debris and alert the monster to their presence. The elevator was about a dozen yards to their right, so if Nico (and everyone else) was quiet enough, he should be able to get back inside and climb up a level. . . . If only his shadow-travel was working. It would make their little expedition _so_ much easier. As funny as it was seeing a scientist being treated like a chew toy, Nico didn't want to be the next toy.

It was going good until Tom's magic started to act up. Between the shock he got from what Yohanin's words could imply, and the huge monster right behind them (which could crush their bodies to insignificant grease spots in a second), it was no big surprise he magic was reacting to it all. Nico just wished the magic could have picked a better time to freak out.

"Calm down," Harry whispered.

"Calm down?" Tom whisper-shouted – whether it was brave or reckless, Nico could decide. "Calm down? What is there to be calm about?"

"You're going to attract the monster," Harry hissed frantically.

"Forget the monster," Tom snarled quietly. "I'm going to make every single one of these muggle scum _pay_. Did you hear what he _said_? It – it was like I was some kind of lab freak!"

Nico saw the alarm flash in Harry's eyes. "Not all muggles are terrible, Tom."

_Oh, gods._

"This is _not_ the time to be having this argument!" Nico interrupted them both.

"Better now than any other ti –"

"_RAAUUUGH!" _

Nico let out a few colorful curses in ancient Greek.

The monster behind them suddenly became aware of the tasty demigod and wizards. It tossed its head to the side, releasing the scientist, who went flying through a lab door with a startled yelp. The last Nico saw of the unnamed scientist was his white face as he peered through the door, and then disappeared inside with a very un-manly shriek as the monster roared again.

It plowed after them, wrecking the wreckage from the last time it crashed through that hall even more. Once again, Nico wondered how it could move so fast when it had flippers instead of normal feet. He supposed there were some times (hah, _some_? How about the entire universe – Apollo flew the freaking sun with a red sports car) where the situation simply couldn't be explained with logic or even physics. It was called The Greek Gods' Laws of the Universe.

"How does it move so fast with fins?" Tom gasped.

"Ignore that!" Nico pushed Tom and Harry forward. "Just run!"

Nico nearly fell down the elevator shaft when he reached it – the entire elevator had been knocked down by the sheer weight of the monster when it fell. The outside doors were blown open, so they looked like a gaping side-ways metal mouth, ready to eat them whole. Nico hoped the scientists hadn't experimented with any metal monsters. They would prove interesting to fight. Would they dissolve into golden sand, or turn into nuts and bolts?

He looked up the shaft, muttering unintelligibly and wishing they had Jason with them. He could just fly them up there. Jason wasn't there at the time, though, so Nico, Harry, and Tom were going to have to climb up the old-fashion way: with a latter.

"I don't like heights," Tom mumbled as he latched onto the latter.

Nico resisted the urge to throw him up the latter to pick up the pace. Tom didn't seem nearly worried enough about the monster racing after them for their blood.

Harry scoffed. "Is there anything you _don't_ not like?"

It took Tom a few moments to reply. "I'll give you that answer after I think about it."

Nico literally shoved Tom through the opening a level up, climbing onto the floor after the other boy. Harry clambered to his feet, his glasses askew on his nose. He straightened his glasses, which were smeared with so much dirt that Nico wonder how he could see through them. He didn't look like he had just run away from a nasty monster, but Nico supposed Harry was probably getting used to the whole 'constantly being under attack' thing.

The elevator shaft echoed with the sound of one very angry monster trying to climb up with fins. Nico didn't think the monster was going to have much luck with that, but he had seen the thing do miracles before. He decided to get the others moving a little faster (honestly, Tom and Harry were acting _far_ too nonchalant about their situation), since they were going at a pace only slightly faster than old lady pushing a shopping cart.

Meanwhile, Tom had completely stopped and was looking in one of the rooms. "Is that wolf sparkling?"

Nico "guided" (read: impatiently pushed) Tom away from the door. "It's an ice wolf – clone of an endangered species."

"A what?" Tom asked. "How do you know –"

"I'll tell you everything later," Nico said. "Now let's _go_."

"Are we under a time crunch or something?" Tom asked.

Nico really, really wanted to face palm. "I explained this earlier. The shields around this place are going to collapse – we're going to escape when that happens."

"Oh, right," Tom nodded.

_Gods, why me?_ Nico also really, really wanted to know why the Fates loved messing with him so much. It wasn't funny, at all. No matter what they thought.

Nico skidded to a halt in front of the stairs, yanking open the door and once again shoving Tom through as the younger boy froze, seeing something curious in one of the labs. He was acting like a kid in a candy shop. A junior dark lord in a science fair? . . . Nico needed to work on suppressing his thought process before it became a derailed train wreck.

There was another roar, and before Nico completely ran through the doors to the stairs, he saw the Monstro dragging itself out of the shaft. It was panting heavily, and for a second Nico got the image of the wolf from the _Sword in the Stone_. He wondered if a part of the ceiling would fall and slow its chase after them as soon as they disappeared from sight, crushing its hope of eating a delicious demigod and his wizard companions.

. . . And there went the derailed thought process again.

Nico, Tom, and Harry (Nico thanked the gods his name wasn't Dick . . . that would be beyond awkward) raced down the steps, mentally counting the floors as he passed them. It _was_ three floors, right? Or was it two? Nico sent a quick prayer to Hades – and promptly hoped they were in the right time line for Hades to even consider helping them, and not send undead monsters to kill them and eat their entrails – and stopped three floors down from their starting point.

"Are we there yet?" Tom panted.

"Percy was right," Nico muttered. "You really _do_ need to work on your physical fitness."

Tom scowled darkly. "Not all of us run away from, and fight, monsters for a living!"

"Do you even get paid?" Harry joked.

"Nope."

"Not even over time?" Tom asked, cracking a small smile.

"No, but we get offered to be sauteed with hot sauce all the time," Nico said with a little too much cheer.

"Nico!"

He looked up as four very relieved forms ran up to him. Jason grinned, giving Nico a friendly punch on the shoulder. "You took forever!"

"Who else is here?!" Tom asked, exasperated.

Piper raised her eyebrows. "When did they get here?"

"Uh . . . I don't actually know?" Nico looked at the twins. "How much time do we have?"

Ivan held up one finger. "A minute."

Aiden grinned widely. "Cutting it close, aren't you?"

"We ran into some trouble," Nico explained shortly. At their '_spill it_' expressions, he waved his hand. "Later."

Aiden pouted with dramatized childishness, while Ivan swatted his brother's head.

Jason fumbled with the anomaly device, squinting at it. "I really wish I had my glasses . . ."

"Oh, let me see that," Piper said, snatching the device away. She slid her finger over the screen a few times, and then tapped it with much more force than necessary. "That . . . should do it."

A white crystalline anomaly opened up, casting familiar flickering light over the hall walls, ceiling and floor. She grinned triumphantly. "Now let's hope I got the time right."

"Wait, I thought you knew how to use that!" Jason protested.

"You figured it out?" Tom asked.

"When'd you do that?" Harry added.

Sometimes, Nico wondered if those two were twins in another life time. "I said I'd explain everything later guys, now let's go!"

Someone cleared their throat. "Not so fast."

Nico couldn't stop himself from pinching the bridge of his nose. "We really don't have the time for this, Thorne."

Clothed in black robes as per usual, Thorne stepped into their view, a smirk twisting his pale face. "Don't you?"

The emergency lights flickered off, and the main lights came back on. A low hum of power started as the shields came back up. Nico waited for the anomaly to close, but to his shock and slight hope it didn't. It continued to pulsate light strongly, though it was drowned out by the brightness of the laboratories' florescent lighting.

Jason and Nico exchanged a look, and they both reached for the two people nearest to them (Nico grabbed Tom and Harry; Jason was closest to Piper and Aiden) and ran for the anomaly. They were all cut off almost immediately by shadows, which were drifting together into solid forms like hardening mist. Nico, who, being the son of Hades, had power over shadows, had never seen anything quite like it . . . until he met Thorne.

"Not so fast!" Thorne laughed, as if he was enjoying this. "The anomaly isn't going anywhere. While it stays open, there's a hole in the shield's defenses. You have plenty of time to talk."

"Not interested," Nico snapped.

"Yeah, well, I wasn't asking you," Thorne replied easily.

Tom pushed Nico aside roughly and glared at Thorne. "Why isn't the darkness working? I've tried to open a portal several times, but it's not working!"

He had? Nico hadn't noticed anything. Perhaps Tom had been doing more than lollygagging during all of those pauses he made while they were running from the monster. Speaking of which, could that whale thing make it down stairs? . . . They needed to get out, quickly.

Thorne laughed again. "You think _you_ were the one who opened that portal? Foolish child. That was me, aiding you in crawling back to the place you were created. Aren't you so desperate to meet your makers?"

"_What_?" came several voices at once.

"Not – now," Tom growled. "So this was all a set up? For what reason? What were you hoping to accomplish?"

Thorne shrugged. "Well, there were a few possible outcomes. You were a lot more . . . level headed than I had hoped you would be, I'll admit."

"You wanted me to go berserk?" Tom asked, clearly unimpressed. "I'm not a bloody Gryffindor."

"Unfortunately," sighed Thorne. "It would have been amusing to watch you fall to insanity, as many have before you. Pity."

"What are you talking about?" Jason asked sharply. "'Many before'?"

Thorne waved it off. "Tom's not the first. He's not the last. Shall we move on?"

"You're the one who is insane!" Ivan exclaimed angrily. "And you just want to drag everyone down with you, don't you? Just like your brother!"

Thorne's seemingly amiable mood vanished into thin air, as if it was never actually there (probably wasn't). "Idiot. You know nothing. I don't know why I waste my time on people like you." - ("Didn't ask you to") - "If it weren't for the fact you all are essential to my plans, I would end you here and now. However, I can't, so I'll just get you out of my sight before I really _do_ lose my temper and rid myself of you!"

"Sounds like someone's already lost his temper," Aiden muttered.

Ivan nudged him. "Don't think this is time to make comments."

"Says the person who back talked a small army of angry medieval villagers armed with torches and pitchforks," Aiden replied, rolling his eyes.

"Touché."

Thorne flicked his wrists, and Nico reached for his ring. Before he could change the ring into sword form, darkness rose all around them. They made a rush for the anomaly, but before they even got close, the darkness swallowed them all whole. Nico was suddenly blind, pushing forward through with no real knowledge of where he was going. He could be running straight back towards the stairs, for all he knew.

Nico stopped and gasped as a sharp pain stabbed through his chest. The darkness lashed around his arms and legs, holding in him in place. It was so cold, it burned against his skin. The last thing he was aware of before his thoughts faded away (he could really fall into darkness if he was already in darkness) was drowning in icy, blinding darkness.

So much for the anomaly. The Fates really did hate him.

* * *

**A/N: Yes, yes, I know. I really wanted this to come out sooner, but several things have happened (I got my wisdom teeth removed, was on Percocet for almost two weeks (the pain laster longer than usual...just my luck). I really did try to type this out, but pain killers do strange things to your brain. I started writing things sdrawkcab. It was hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing, and couldn't get my thoughts straight. (My brothers liked me better on pain killers. I wasn't sure what to say to that.).) AND THEN, after that, a bunch of other things happened. Long story short, there's an RV being fixed up and we're scrambling to pack the house before a certain date. **

**So I had a good excuse. :D**

**I hope you all really enjoy this chapter! I'm up for constructive criticism (obviously)! 'Till the next chapter . . . Whenever that is, haha. **


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Like a Chicken Nugget

With an explosion-like sneeze, Tom rocketed up, fully awake.

There had been something tickling his nose – a piece of grass, held in the hand of a girl with blonde hair, blue eyes, and wearing the most bizarre clothing he had ever seen. She wore a tan leather jacket, and combat boots. There was dark make-up around her eyes, making them look much larger. She had bright red streaks in the left side of her hair, and purple on the right. The grass she was holding, for whatever reason, was partially made out of cheese.

He wasn't going to ask.

Behind her was a crowd of kids, ages ranging anywhere from ten or eleven, like him, some even younger, or below college age. They were on a balcony, over looking a grayish river. There was a pool, with something long, white, and filled with teeth swimming around the bottom, only popping up when the blonde girl threw in a piece of bacon at it – a crocodile. They had a freaking crocodile in their balcony pool, and he liked bacon.

"Who are . . ." Tom was about to ask "who are you" until he saw another blonde girl (only several years younger) drawing on a piece of paper and making her crayon drawings of unicorns with snakes stabbed through their horns come alive. His voice fizzled and died. He had seen some crazy stuff in the past few weeks, but a unicorn with a dead snake on its horn? That was new.

"Who are _you_?" the blonde girl asked rudely.

Tom snapped out of his daze. "Tom Riddle. . . . Who are you?"

"I'm Sadie Kane," said the girl. "The dork behind me," she stabbed a finger at the dark-skinned boy behind her, "is my brother, Carter. He only thinks he's older."

"Sadie!" Carter hissed. He turned to Tom. "I _am_ the older sibling."

Well, duh. He was taller and older looking than Sadie. Tom refrained from saying that out loud. "Where am I? I was in that lab, and now I'm here . . ."

"You're in Brooklyn, New York," Sadie explained.

How did he get from the lab to – you know what? He didn't even care anymore. " . . . Okay."

He looked down at his hand. He hadn't made that portal open. Was it even possible for him to control the darkness? It had to be. He had felt it stirring inside him before, and he had seen it flicker to life on his hands. Thorne couldn't have orchestrated all of that. . . . Could he have? It stood to reason that if Thorne could control his own darkness, then he could put it into others, even if only temporary.

Meanwhile, Sadie muttered something about an "angst bucket" and said, "You're one of those time travelers, aren't you? Have you heard from Percy, or Annabeth? Or Harry, Ron, and Hermione?"

"Yes," said Tom. He shakily stood. He felt as though he had been knocked in the head by a rogue bludger. "They're fine. The others I'm not sure about: Nico, Piper, Jason . . . They're not here. Where did they go?"

He was half talking to himself. There was so much new information spinning around in his head, things he had learned in that ICE lab. He felt like he was treading water, and if he had to carry around another major load, he'd be in over his head.

Where would he be if he hadn't joined the demigods and wizards, if they had never appeared at Wool's Orphanage? He had been looking forward to finding out which parent was magical, or if they both were. He had been worried about his blood purity. Now he was just worried about making it out of these crazy situations with his head and life intact. One had priorities when there was a monster with large teeth chasing after them.

Altered in a lab, though? He had always been a wizard, he reminded himself. That wasn't fake. But these "demigod genes" were fake. The "magician genes" were also fake. For all he knew, the only reason he was such an extraordinary wizard was because he was unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of ICE as a child – something which he didn't remember.

"You okay?" asked Carter. He offered a glass of iced water. "Here, this might make you feel better."

Tom accepted the drink without hesitation. The icy water did indeed make him feel a lot better. His heart, which had been racing, settled into a normal pace. He set the glass down a table. "So I'm in Brooklyn. . . . Where were the others? "Nobody else landed here?"

Sadie shook her head. "Nope, you appeared here by yourself in a big cloud of darkness. It looked a bit like black candy floss . . ."

Tom wasn't sure about comparing the darkness to candy floss. "What year is it?"

Sadie answered his question, and Tom felt as though his insides froze. He knew that Percy and Harry and his friends came from far in the future, but it hadn't really struck home until that very moment. He was over _seventy_ years in the future. They all looked like the people did back in Tom's time, yet at the same time they were so . . . alien. There were certainly no girls with monster boots in the 30's (with the exception of Katelle, but she was the exception of many things).

He shook the last bit of disorientation from his head, breathing deeply. There had to be reason he was sent to this particular time, in this particular location. The numerous kids and teens without guardians more than likely had something to do with it. Sadie and Carter knew Percy, Annabeth, Harry, and everyone else.

Something rang loudly, and Tom jumped a good foot off the ground. His eyes locked on Sadie, which was where the sound was coming from. The blonde girl laughed at his stunned expression and pulled a device out of her pocket. "It's a _phone_, Tom, dear. Welcome to the twenty-first century."

Now that he thought about it . . . "Do you have any of those anomaly detection devices?"

"Eh?" Sadie shot him a blank look. "What?"

He sighed. "Must be past this time." Now that he really thought about it . . . how from into the future did Katelle come from? With how bitter she could be at times, it must not have been a good future. That was probably why she was traveling through time – to change everything. He shuddered to think how horrible it must have been that she would be willing to tamper with the time line and throw the lives of every human being into danger.

"So where . . . or when, I guess, do you come from?" Carter asked.

They were now sitting on a glass table on the porch. In the back ground, the baboon (what was its name again?) was holding a piece of bacon over the water, and jumping back away from the snapping teeth of Philip of Macedonia every time the crocodile tried to eat the treat. Tom thought that the baboon (_Kerchu? Kuster? Buster?_) was playing a dangerous game.

"Khufu, do you want to lose your fingers?" scolded a petite blonde girl lightly, holding an armful of books.

Ah – Khufu!

"Er – 1928, last I knew . . . However, we've skipped around quite a bit, and I don't know what the year was in the last one. . . . We were in a research lab," Tom added at their questioning glances.

Sadie shivered. "Mad scientists. They're mad."

"That's why they're called mad scientists," Carter said with a long suffering sigh.

"So what is this place?" Tom asked.

Sadie drew herself up proudly. "This is the 21st Nome. We're magicians, all with the blood of the pharaohs of the past. We do magic."

Tom rose an eyebrow. "Like wizards, you mean?"

Carter crossed his arms. "Well, there's many difference between Egyptian magic and the wizard's magic. For one, your magic seems to be inexhaustible as long as you're not doing any physical activity with the magic. Our magic, on the other hand, is extremely taxing on our bodies if we over use it."

"You can spontaneously combust," Sadie chipped in.

Tom's eyes narrowed. "Isn't spontaneous combustion –"

"Yeah, yeah," Sadie interrupted. "You can't put smelly undergarments and wheat in a jar and make mice."

"Once a magician uses up too much of their life reserves, they've got nothing keeping them alive, basically," Carter explained. "It's sort of complicated, but in laymens terms, if you use too much of your life force, you'll turn to dust."

Tom blinked slowly. " . . . And you crazy people are willing to practice such magic?"

"It's not so bad," Carter assured him. "We can build up our reserves. It's kind of like building up stamina – actually, it's just like building up stamina. If you try to run ten miles when you've never ran in your life, you're going to drop dead at some point when your heart fails you. But if you build up your stamina and train your body, you'll make the ten miles and more."

"I guess that's not so bad," Tom said. _I could probably do this magic, knowing what those freaks in the laboratories did to me. . . . But why can't I remember anything? Was it all so tramatizing that I literally blocked out the memories?_

Off to the side, a Japanese teen with long, dark hair tied up in a high pony-tail was holding a place stacked with an enormous amount of food above the head of another short, skinny teen with white hair and gray-blue eyes. The Japanese teen had an amused smirk on his face as he kept the plate out of reach from the shorter teen.

"Give it up, _moyashi_," said the Japanese teen.

"It's _ALLEN!_" yelled the white-haired boy. "Not _beansprout_!"

Carter sighed, dropping his head in his hands. "Are those two going at it again?"

"Yep," Sadie said. "Have fun, big brother of mine!"

Carter shot a glare at her. "Not funny, Sadie. I don't feel like being skewered by that ridiculous sword of Kanda's."

Tom looked at the two arguing teens – Allen and Kanda.

At one point, Tom would have assumed the two were bitter enemies. However, after being around Percy and his friends, and hearing their friendly bantering and recognizing real arguing from the friends stuff, he could see more than that. It was strange, now that he thought about it, what a profound impact they made on him. He could see the camaraderie between Kanda and Allen – despite the arguments, in the end of the day, they had each other's backs.

"Someone should go break them up," said Carter unenthusiastically.

"Like I said," Sadie replied, "Have fun!"

Carter grumbled under his breath unintelligibly and walked over to Kanda and Allen.

Sadie laughed, a fiendish glint in her eyes. "It's always funny watching Kanda and Allen fight. It's even funnier when Carter tries to stop them."

Tom backed away from her slightly. "You're brutal."

"I know," Sadie said with a wistful sigh. "In another life, this world might have been mine . . ."

Tom considered the quickest exits: the door, or the edge of the porch. He might just choose the latter. He could survive falling into the Hudson, right?

"What about you?" asked Sadie. "Once this is all over and you fix all the time anomalies – what are you going to do?"

Tom scratched the back of his awkwardly. He had never really thought about it too much. " . . . Go back to Hogwarts? Maybe run for Minister of Magic . . . or become a professor."

"Meh, being a teacher's overrated," Sadie said. "And if you really want to, good luck. No adult's gonna take you seriously."

Tom's shoulders slumped. "Probably."

"Jeez, I didn't know you'd act so emo," Sadie said, rolling her eyes.

"I – I am not –"

"_AAAAAARGGGHH!_"

Tom and Sadie leapt out of their seats and ran for the mansion. Carter, Allen, and Kanda were right behind. They were met by the confused and slightly afraid faces of the other Egyptian magicians.

A boy with shaggy brown hair and gray eyes stumbled down the stairs, where the bedrooms were. The side of his shirt was sheered off, along with a good portion of his skin. He was gasping for breath, sweat coating his forehead and dripping down his face. His eyes were wide in fear. "There – there's something – it's big – fast . . ."

A girl with blonde hair and blue eyes ran through the crowd and helped the boy the rest of the way down, muttering under her breath. "Calm down, you'll be okay. I'm going to help you."

"Do have you have it under control, Jaz?" asked another kid, reaching into his bag.

Jaz nodded. "Yeah – I can stop the bleeding. Luckily, the wounds aren't that deep. . . . You'll be okay." The last part was said the trembling boy. "Can you hear me?"

The boy nodded. Then he looked at Sadie and Carter. "You need to – to get rid of that thing! It's – it's a monster!"

Behind the cluster of Egyptian magicians, Tom's shoulders slumped. No one noticed his slightly afraid, slightly annoyed face. He knew exactly what had terrified that boy, and he hoped the magicians were as good as they made themselves out to be, because they were going to have to be. The monster he just knew he had the misfortune to have been followed by (not the whale, by the way) through the portal Thorne created.

More than once, Tom had wondered how demigods could look so nonchalant about things. They could have a building explode in front of them, and most of them probably wouldn't bat an eye at it. Their world was so much different than his, yet exactly the same. There wasn't a single wizard or witch who hadn't been stuck by some kind of odd calamity, and there wasn't a single demigod who hadn't _literally_ been struck by a weird calamity.

The only difference was that one world was much more violent than the other. And that the one Percy and his friends came from was in the future, but Tom liked to just ignore that fact. It tended to give him headaches.

Sadie and Carter parted from the group of magicians, creeping up the stairs. Tom followed behind them, pulling out his wand even though he knew it would do next to nothing against the Predators. It wasn't that his magic wasn't effective – quite the opposite, Tom knew exactly how powerful his magic was – it was just, he wouldn't be able to use a spell of any kind fast enough to be useful. He would have to be incredibly quick – and use non-verbal magic.

"I think I know what we're up against," Tom stated quietly as they reached the hall. He absently noted whoever owned this place had to be well to-do, because he nearly sank to his ankles in the carpet (though there were a few burnt spots).

"Do explain," Sadie demanded.

"They're called Predators," Tom replied. "They're big, and they're kind of blue –"

Sadie snickered. "Big and blue . . . I knew it!"

Carter swatted the back of her head. "Save the movie references for later, would you?"

"– and they're superhuman, basically. Impossibly fast, strong, and they can see sound. Like echolocation." Tom paused. "They kind of sound like dolphins, too."

"Any weak spots?" Carter asked.

"Er – really loud sound will repel them. They can't handle it because too much sound is sensory overload."

Sadie grinned. "Leave this to me."

"Horus, _why_?" Carter muttered. "No – not you, Horus – just shut up –"

Tom watched Carter cautiously as the older boy seemingly talked to himself. Someone had issues . . .

"Perfect," Carter snapped to thin air. "Thank you, Horus. Now Tom thinks I'm insane – what? – how dare you – _just shut up!_"

Before Carter could complain to the voice in his head anymore (what Tom didn't know at the time was, Carter was literally speaking to the voice in his head, better known as Horus), Sadie elbowed the back of his head ("_Ow_, what the heck, Sadie?"). "A nutter, he is."

"Right, because you're one to –"

A series of popping and crackling noises permeated the air, echoing off the hallway. They froze, subconsciously stilling their breathing and waiting. Tom's fingers twitched, wishing he still had his dagger (how had he lost that thing, anyway? He couldn't remember). He knew how little it mattered that they stood still. They could stand stock still and hold their breath, and while that might help a bit, in the end it would make a difference. The Predators could hear their very heartbeats.

And Tom wasn't very keen on stopping his heart anytime soon, either.

He was stricken, his limbs frozen and his feet glued to the floor. There was no way he could move – he was too terrified. Those things could kill him, they would _eat_ him. They were so fast, he wouldn't even see his death come upon him. With one swipe of their claws, or maybe a chomp of their teeth, it would severe his spinal cord at his neck and he would die. That would be it – the end – no more Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Nothing feared him more than the emptiness of death. The loss of one's self, the fallen memories. There was no imprint on this world, no sign he ever existed. The planet would spin and another day would come, just without Tom. He couldn't bear being forgotten and lost, just like that. Death was truly the worst thing that could happen to a person.

"Did you hear that?" Carter whispered.

_Don't talk_, Tom moaned in dismay. _They'll see the sound waves, moron!_

"Yeah," Sadie replied quietly. "Tom, what, exactly, are they capable of again?"

"Very fast, agile, strong," Tom snapped, giving up on silence. The Predator already knew exactly where they were. It was just taking its time. They liked to play with their food, it seemed. "And if it gets to us, it will try to eat us."

"It _eats _humans?" Carter asked, shocked. He shouldn't have been, he had dealt with demons that did similar things, but still . . .

"Like a chicken nugget?" Sadie added.

"What? Sadie – this is last time to worrying about chicken nuggets –"

"What's a chicken nugget?" Tom mumbled.

"You see, my apprentice –"

"_Not the time_!" Carter hissed. "Something's coming – I can feel it."

Sadie stopped, and shuddered. "You're right. The_ Duat _– there's ripples."

There was a flash of blue – something latched onto the roof and jumped behind them. By the time they whirled around, the Predator was already lunging at them, its mouth gaping open, beady black eyes set on them.

Carter lifted his _khopesh _just in time, the blow ringing at the creature's claws raked across the blade. It jumped back, twitching and jerking around. Its head twisted to the side, mouth opening and closing, popping and whining growls emanating. The Predator's movements were as bizarre and unpredictable as usual. It acted like it either had way too much sugar in its system, or it was suffering from a mental illness.

Tom personally thought it was both.

"Sadie – sound – you think you can . . .?" Carter asked without really asking, leaving Tom spitting fire and waving his arms around, wondering what the heck he was talking about.

Sadie grinned. "Oh yeah, leave it to me. DJ Sadie coming right up!"

* * *

AN: Dear gods. Has it really been a year? I think it has. What can I say? Life catches up to you. Just so you guys know, I haven't forgotten this. We've just been having technical difficulties with Festus's wiring. But now I'm back and running again! Woo-hoo!

~ LunaEtSidera


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

**Plans that (Almost) Never Work**

"_Oh yeah, leave it to me. DJ Sadie coming right up!_"

Even though Tom had literally no clue what that had meant, he could have known it couldn't be good. As soon as those words left her mouth, Sadie had grabbed "her apprentice"'s arm and dragged him off ("Call me Sadie-sensei!"). Carter had jumped at the Predator – a suicidal move, on his part – and the two, monster and magician, had engaged in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Care to guess who played which part?

Hint: Carter was the mouse.

A few seconds later, and Tom was – literally – tossed into a room. Sadie ran in after him and started going through the drawers, throwing things in a panic as she tore through her room searching for something important. Then she rushed into the closet, cursing under breath and muttering about having a word with whoever "cleaned" her room. There was a large poster of an Egyptian god on her door – judging by the jackal head, he guessed it was Anubis, the god of funerals. He wondered why she would have a poster like that on her closet door.

Finally, she rushed out with a strange-looking devise (but weren't all the modern devices odd?) held in his arms. Obviously seeing his expression, she stated, "Before you ask, it's a music player. Surround sound speakers – cutting edge quality. You don't get better than this baby."

Ignoring the ridiculous term of endearment, he had to agree it did sound and look impressive. He didn't know what "surround sound" meant, but as long as it was loud – very loud – and didn't break, he was fine with it. Now the problem was setting it up and blasting the Predator's ear drums before the creature tried to kill _him_.

Sadie slowly kicked open the door, awkwardly holding the sound-maker under her arm as she peered around the corner. There was a tense quiet outside her room. She crept out, Tom following closely behind, and they found the hallway empty of the Predator, with Carter crouched in a battle-ready position.

The dark-haired boy had a gash running down his temple, blood coating the side of his face. His chin was bruised. His bronze _khopesh _was covered in some kind of greenish-gray liquid, which he grimaced at in disgust. Carter looked as though he had seen better days, thoroughly frustrated and ready to kill something – the later of which he was failing at miserably. Well, the Predators were fast. He couldn't blame himself for having a hard time killing a creature that had several thousand years of evolution on him.

"Where did it go?" Sadie whispered.

Carter scowled. "It darted off down the hall. I'm making sure it doesn't try to get passed me. The last thing we need is that demon getting loose in New York."

"It's a Predator," Tom corrected.

"You think the speakers will be enough the stun the demon?" Sadie asked.

"_Predator_," Tom muttered again.

"Yeah, whatever, _predator_," Sadie rolled her eyes. She glared at Carter. "Well? Will it work?"

Carter shrugged. "Why are you asking me? I'm not the Predator expert here."

The siblings turned to Tom, who immediately backed away. He waved his arms in front of his face. "Whoa! Don't look at me, I'm new to all of this. I know only a little more than you do!"

"Helpful." Sadie deadpanned.

Tom scowled, and then tried to wrack his brain for any information he remembered Katelle slipping, and his observations of the beasts himself. Unfortunately, most of the times he had the honor of being in the presence of a Predator, he was usually more interested in his own safety than the behavioral traits of the monsters themselves. Analyzing data during a deadly situation without breaking a sweat was Annabeth's job.

That being said, he didn't like to feel useless. "They're very sensitive to noise."

"You may have said that a few times," said Sadie sarcastically.

Tom fought off the urge to shoot her a nasty glare. "It's also from a time, very far in the future, where there aren't many people at all. It's not used to throngs of people, and all the noise."

"So what you're saying is, it'll probably look for a nice, quiet place to hunker down for a while?" Carter asked.

"Yes," said Tom. "I think that's what it'll do."

"So we need to corral it somewhere, and we can use loud noises to do that –"

"Or we can wait for it to come and eat us," Sadie suggested.

"No, that's not a good pla –"

"Too bad, because we don't have much of a choice," Sadie cut him off short.

She was in a defensive position, her boomerang-like wand held in hand. Across from her, right above their heads, the Predator had itself wedged between the wall and the ceiling. Its claws dug into the plaster, and its head was turned at an unnatural angle as it studied them. Beady black eyes watched its would-be meal, and its gaping maw glinting with multiple rows of deadly sharp teeth.

For the first time, Tom took the time to appreciate the Predator's deadly precision. Everything about it was perfect for killing. It didn't need eyes, because those could fail a predator in battle. It could hear its prey's heartbeat, see heat signatures. The long arms were perfect for ripping things apart limb from limb, and he really didn't want to think about how many things it had torn to pieces with its teeth. 'Predator' indeed – they were monsters.

"What's it waiting for?" Carted asked in a low voice, though part the boy, who was directly descended from the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, knew exactly what it was waiting for.

It was a Predator, and it would go for the weakest of them. Carter had proven himself a formidable opponent with his _khopesh_, fighting off the demon against the odds. He had the advantage of being in a small space, where the large Predator had a hard time maneuvering. Sadie was an unknown – the beast hadn't fought her and thus knew nothing of her abilities. The smallest one of their group was Tom, and usually it was the smallest and weakest that the monsters went after.

Carter shifted to place himself in front of Tom.

"I don't think you should be he –"

The Predator lunged – arms outstretched, teeth barred as it let out a howl. Carter moved, slashing – the Predator twisted around his curved Egyptian blade, straight at its intended target.

Tom gave a yell of surprise and it leaped at him, claws tearing through his Hogwarts uniform and shredding skin. Hot, foul breath blew his hair back from his forehead, teeth poised right over his face. For a second, all was still – he was about to die a gruesome death, and time would slow down so he could suffer every painful second of his disembowelment.

_I don't want to die_.

He closed his eyes, and thrust his hand up – clutching the dagger. The metal flashed, and then sank through the two jaw bones under its head, up through its mouth and into its brain. Greenish-yellow liquid slid down the blade and handle, coating his hand. The opened maw of the monster froze, and its entire body twitched for a second, before becoming very stiff. His hand trembled from the effort of fighting through pain and terror.

Dead weight collapsed on him as the Predator's life left its body. He stayed there, paralyzed, unable to believe that he was actually alive, that he had really killed it – that he had _survived_ that encounter. He remembered what Katelle had said at one point – he didn't remember when. '_Deadly fast – near impossible to kill_'. Not completely impossible though.

"Tom!"

Hands rolled the Predator's body off him, and he struggled to sit up. There was something wet and warm running down his arms.

"Hey – don't move. You're injured, so –"

"Someone get Jaz!"

Tom blinked – his vision looked strange. It was almost like when he was falling into one of those portals of darkness, just fuzzier. It didn't hurt, either. It also didn't have the bone-chilling cold and reached into his soul and seemed to steal all of the life from him. Quite the opposite, really; he could feel his pain draining away with the quality of his vision.

That was most likely not a good sign.

"Stay with us – Tom!"

He figured that getting himself knocking out frequently was probably a bad habit, and he really needed to stop. Then again, Percy did say that getting head injuries (and a plethora of other injuries) came with the territory when it came to being a demigod. Of course, going down that road led him to the doubt, once again, that if he even was a demigod at all. Whatever the case, falling unconscious nothing short of a dozen times in a period of a week wasn't good for one's health.

" . . . losing blood . . . careful – there's a fracture in his . . . two bottles of . . ."

For the second time that day, Tom Riddle blacked out.

* * *

Memories are a fickle thing.

Shifting endlessly through a sea of time, the only constant are the memories and thoughts left over from the previous people who had been there. The ones who came and left, and the ones who lived, and then died. Marking the time of their survival meant nothing, because they had survived in three different places at the same time.

There was no legacy for the people who moved through time. Once they stepped through the curtain and left the dimension of mortals, they surrendered their memories to the onslaught of time itself. Such a thing was to be a great honor, only given to those who were prepared to leave behind all they knew and cherished. Those who could selflessly survive and protect the moving waves of time, and keep the memories and thoughts of others untouched.

Time was never meant to be tampered with.

It happened twelve years ago, she remembered now. She didn't know how old she was, or where she had been. She didn't know the date of her "birth", or her "parents", because as far as she knew, she had none. They were "brothers" and "sisters" through circumstance, not blood. They lived because they had to, not because it was what they wanted.

Why should they let themselves die, if there was nothing waiting for them?

That was the biggest question that their kind had. If they were born without souls, was there a place for their absent soul to go to? Such a thing was their biggest mystery; whether they would drift through endless nothingness after death, or if they would find their glorious afterlife of peace. There was no way to tell, so they avoided death above all else.

Her memories bubbled up to the surface through a haze. She remembered his name – the name he gave her all those years ago. Twelve years. Twelve letters. It had been so long, but she would never forget that day. She would never hate him, could never hate him. No matter what he did, she would never condemn him. Even if she said she did – part of her heart would always cherish him, as family always did.

_Cold. It was cold. That understandable, giving she was only wearing a thin hospital gown over nothing. Her wrists were sore and raw, same as her ankles. Her back was pressed against the horribly cold stainless steel operation table. IV drips were on either side of her, a table full of medical tools she knew neither name nor purpose of, other than their ability to create endless pain. _

_It was also white in this room. The ceiling was white, her gown was white, her skin was white and nearly translucent, blue veins clearly visible. The walls were purest alabaster. The only color in the room was the Other – the Other's hair, the Other's eyes. She didn't know what he was called, and she didn't know what she was called, because neither had ever been called anything._

_Their maker was called Doctor Bakyo. He was old – he had white hair, and pale gray eyes. He wore a white lab coat. _

_She did what he told – lifted her arms when she had to, killed the monsters they threw at her, kept her mouth shut, said nothing, did nothing unless they told her to do so. She watched listlessly as he injected her arms full of things – strange things. She didn't know what it was called, but it did cause pain. As long as she did as she was told – never said anything – she was never given extra pain. She was obedient. _

_The Other was always given extra pain. He spoke – yelled, fought. He was not obedient. She admired that he could stay so alive in the cold whiteness, but she was too afraid to do the same. The doctor wasn't as careful with her as he was with the Other. He restrained her at all times, but he was careless when it came to her obedience when she wasn't. He didn't try to keep things that could cause him pain from her. _

_Unlike her, the Other was clever. It was the third cycle, where she was given the injections three times in a row. The doctor forgot her restraints. He left that little silver knife there. She didn't even think to take the knife, she didn't even think that she could escape with it. Unlike her, the Other thought of those things._

"_Do it," he whispered._

_She blinked. It was the first time someone had spoken to her. She wasn't sure she knew how to make speech. " . . . Do it?"_

"_The knife," he hissed. "We can get away – we can be free! No more white – just get the knife, and set us free!"_

_No more white. The idea sounded nice, like the idea of living in a golden palace of rainbows and flowing waterfalls, with endless green hills, colorful flowers, and beautiful forests sounded nice. It sounded too nice, a dream that would never come true. There was no point even giving it the time of her day to think about it._

_That was problem, though – she had far too much time to think. The knife was still there, and the doctor's back turned. Her restraints were gone. _

_What lay beyond the door? What was outside the compound? Were the trees really green? Did the sky truly turn black at night? Were stars real? What was an ocean?_

_She had the knife, she had the tool to answer those questions. If she ended the doctor Bakyo right here, he would cause no more pain. That sounded nice, too. What was there to stop her? Why shouldn't she do it? She hadn't even realized until that moment that her hand was already curled around the base of the knife, the silver blade glinting ever so slightly. _

_When Doctor Bakyo turned and returned to the girl's table, a new round of shots prepared, he never saw it coming. He had never had any problems with the blonde girl – she never fought, never spoke, never did anything but be the perfect specimen. She was quick, strong, and excelled at everything he put before her. She, within only a few more months, would be the perfect weapon – the complete opposite of the ornery boy. _

_The only warning he got was her sitting up abruptly. The metal glinted – and the color red arched through the air. _

_The Doctor choked, unable to breath, unable to comprehend, and she withdrew the knife. Crimson ran down her hand, staining her no-longer pure white hospital gown (the absence of untouched white was a relief). She stared blankly at his body, wondering if he would stand up again. She hadn't expected him to lay down. She slid off the table, her feet meeting the floor willingly for the first time. _

_Unlike the other times, when she walked across the floor, she wasn't going to learn how to use multiple weapons. She wouldn't be fighting other monsters, being made stronger, faster, and lighter on her feet. This time, she was walking because it was what she wanted._

_With two quick, precise movements, the Other's restraints were slashed apart, and he was free. He sprang off the table as if it burned him, and let out a sigh of relief when his own feet hit the ground. She watched him, her face empty of everything. It was like staring into the face of an emotionless doll. She could hardly help it, seeing that emotions were hardly a thing taught in this compound._

"_Do you have a name?" he asked._

_She said nothing in return. _

_He scratched jet-black hair, falling down between his shoulder-blades. "You know – what you're called?"_

"_Serial Code Ninety-Nine dash Three." _

_The boy squirmed. "That's not what I meant."_

"_I do not understand."_

"_How about I make a name up for you?" said the boy. "You won't be called '99-3' anymore. I'm going to name you . . . Cat – no, Katelle. Yeah. And . . . Sparrow." _

_He laughed, ruffling her blonde hair. "Because you're a tiny little thing. And I can tell you're a loud mouth."_

_She blinked at him, silent as ever._

_The boy sighed. "Well, it was worth a shot." _

_He grabbed her wrist, and started tugging her for the door. "C'mon. We've gotta leave before they discover the good ole doc."_

_As they ran through the abandoned halls, the girl murmured, "I am . . . Katelle Sparrow?"_

"_Yeah," he said, running effortlessly at full sprint. _

"_That is what I am called, now?"_

"_Sure is," he replied._

_She let herself be dragged along a while longer, before saying, "What are you called?"_

_He glanced back at her, grinning. His bright golden eyes flashed. "You're getting the hang of it! I'm called Draven. Draven Thorne. Nice to meet you, Katelle!"_

Her eyes flickered open, and her grip on her knife tightened. They were everywhere, swarming her, holding her against the cold table. There was cold, sterile white all around her – scientists in white lab coats, injections and IV drips. She knew it wasn't a hospital, because she had been in those enough to tell. She knew the difference between medical treatment and a scientist's curiosity.

Lights blared into her eyes, voices speaking in a hushed tones chattered over her head. The beeping of the heart monitor alerted them to her awoken state. They rushed around like ants, preparing to put her under again for whatever operation they were doing on her this time. She saw the glint of scalpels and needles with the horrendously white lights, and something inside her that she had buried as deep as she could reared to life again – and she _snapped_.

The blade flashed, and blood flew. By the end of this day, she would be free once again.

* * *

AN: Got blood, anyone? I don't think that was too violent. I was hit by a random burst of inspiration, which is why this was posted so soon after the last update. I hope you all enjoyed the insight into Katelle's and Thorne's pasts! I hope it isn't turning into one big confusing mess. I'm trying to tie up the loose ends as the finale comes up!

Oh, and I've started a collaboration fic with Khaos20. Shameless advertisement of the Percy Jackson &amp; the Olympians fic we're doing called Guardian of the Hammer: Legend of Lightning. It really helped get my muse back up for writing. :D

MysticRyter: I'm glad to be back, too! Thanks for the review!


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Voila! Here's another chapter! Enjoy! :D**

* * *

Chapter Twenty-Three

Frying pan – meet fire.

That's what Nico was feeling by this point. They had escaped one lab, just to end up in another. Granted, it was much quieter, and all the scientists were dead, but that didn't change the fact Nico felt they had gone three steps forward, and two steps back (not four steps back, because the scientists really _were_ dead, and rabid specimens had jumped them). Although, he felt he should add another step because his twin brothers were missing – again.

In front of him, Jason was checking the pulse of another scientist, just to make sure. When he stood up, his face grim, Nico knew the scientist was dead, just like the others. It made his brain work on overdrive, trying to imagine what or who could have killed them, and why. But as he thought about it, the real question was _who_, not _why_. He had seen enough of these time traveling scientists to know they were nasty pieces of work, and the person who did it probably had a very good reason.

That just left the question of _who_, and if this person was still in the compound. Personally, Nico didn't feel like being in the same vicinity of a mass-murdering psychopath, no matter how much the scientists deserved their end.

"No one is alive?" asked Harry, the bespectacled boy looked very unnerved by the dead bodies.

Jason shook his head. "Nope. They were all take out quickly – most of them through the throat or back. Whoever did it was good – they got the heart and spine at the same point."

Harry shuddered slightly. "D'you suppose they're still here?"

"No clue," Jason replied steadily. "Don't worry – whoever was here only went after the scientists."

"That's because there's only scientists in here," Harry mumbled.

"Touché," said the blond son of Jupiter.

Nico could feel the death in the air. The scientists had recently been killed, and he was almost certain the killer was still in the building. He knew it was a son of Hades thing, because he was able to sense things that involved death, but he wasn't going to inform the others. They were spooked as it was, and he didn't want to scare them anymore than they already were. He might tell Jason, but he knew Harry was at the end of his rope – all it would take a little more, and he'd explode big time.

"So now what?" Harry asked. "We're away from that other place, but now how do we get out of here? Where even is here?"

"That's a good question," Piper said, staring off to the side, deep in thought. "We have to be careful – we don't even know what year we're in."

"The year is 2554."

The demigods and wizard spun around, startled, hands going for their weapons. When they saw who stood there, they relaxed, even though they were completely stunned.

"Katelle?" said Piper.

"You're in another of the company's labs," said Katelle. "ADAM. This is the place I grew up in."

"What?" Harry said. "You said –"

"That I was the daughter of Kronos?" Katelle interrupted. Her head was tilted down at the floor, looking at the corpses of the scientists, so they couldn't see her face. A second later, she started shaking. Then she started laughing, a high and unnatural sound, clutching her stomach in mirth.

"What is so funny?" Nico snapped.

The blonde girl closed her eyes, covering her mouth with one hand as she laughed. A few moments later, after she calmed down, she opened them. Her eyes were hard and lacked any of the amusement she had shown earlier. Nico wondered if any of the laughter she had just displayed was real at all. He thought, more than likely not.

"Daughter of Kronos . . . Titan of time . . ." Katelle tilted her head, studying them in a way that was reminiscent of the Predators they often found themselves running from. "I . . . can't believe you actually bought that. And you claim to know about your own history as demigods."

Nico went rigid, feeling a chill pass over him. "What are you saying?"

She rolled her eyes. "Haven't you figured it out? I'm not the daughter of Kronos. I'm not the daughter of a Titan, or a god, or even a mortal human. I'm not the daughter of ANYONE!"

She yelled the last word so loud, her voice echoed down the halls of the labs.

"What are you saying?" Piper asked, her eyes narrowed. Her gazed flickered to the people that lay on the ground, dead. "Who killed these people?"

"You can hardly call them people," Katelle spat. "They tortured, killed, and destroyed for the sake of science. They're just monsters in the forms of mortals."

"Katelle, that wasn't my question," said Piper. She had drawn her dagger without any of them noticing. "Tell me, who killed them?"

The blonde girl hesitated a moment, and then shrugged. "Your charmspeak won't work on me. And put that stupid thing away. You wouldn't stand a chance against me, and I'm not your enemy anyway."

Piper waited a moment, then sheathed her _Katoptris_.

"What did you mean, you're not the daughter of anyone?" asked Harry. He still looked reluctant to relax and take his hand away from his wand.

"Haven't you guessed?" Katelle asked. She sighed at their blank looks. "Okay. No more lies, no more hints and riddles. You want to full story? You'll get it."

"_What_ are you talking about?" Jason exclaimed. "You're not the daughter of Kronos?"

"That _is_ what I said," said Katelle.

She sat on the floor, uncaring of the bodies that lay around her. She closed her eyes in thought, her hands resting on her knees, as if she was meditating. She was no longer trapped in her younger body, and looked her real age: sixteen. Her blonde hair had grown out a bit, hanging around her shoulder blades. There was a new scar on her face, under her left eye, curved slightly so it looked like a tear drop.

"Well, sit," she insisted, motioning at the ground. She opened on eye with a smirk. "Or are you too squeamish?"

Nico, Jason, Piper, and Harry slowly sat across from her. Nico noticed how Harry kept twitching, resisting the urge to grab his wand. Clearly the wizard didn't trust Katelle, even after she assure them she wasn't their enemy. He didn't blame Harry for distrusting her – she didn't make herself known the best of ways, and she wasn't making much sense. That glint in her eyes didn't make her seem very trustworthy.

"Where should I start?" Katelle mused to herself. "At the beginning? With the reason I sympathize with Thorne, as much as he irritates the crap out of me?"

"You have sympathy for Thorne?" Harry said, nonplussed.

"How can I not?" Katelle sighed. "We're practically family, him and I. We were all family. Me, Draven, Than, Ace, Arianne. We were family – brothers and sisters. Ace and Arianne were literally twins. They were "born" at the same time."

"You're acting like you weren't born normally," Jason stated.

"That's because we weren't," said Katelle sadly, her moods changing swiftly and unpredictably. "We don't have parents, or a hometown. We were all created here, in this lab."

"When you say created . . ." Harry started, then trailed off. He seemed to be catching on faster than the others. "You don't mean –"

Katelle nodded sharply. "We were created, grown, and raised in these labs. Rats, experiments. Barely human. We were made to be the perfect weapons, because we were more than just a mortal, or a wizard, magician, or demigod. We're a little bit of them all. The genetics and cells of several special types of beings were injected into five fetuses – grown in test tubes."

Nico felt his stomach churn. Test tubes? Experimentation? It was insane. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, and he had heard and believed a lot in the past. This was just . . sick. It made him feel ill.

"Those five were grown into infancy stage, and when they were strong enough, they were taken from those tubes and raised in the labs as test specimens," she continued. "They were created to be protectors of the company – ADAM. They had harnessed the energy of the world, of the anomalies, and there were plenty of people who realized this was bad for the environment. So that's why we were created; their soldiers, to keep people from uprising against them –"

Something smashed, and they jumped. The entire lab seemed to tilt to the left, and Nico was nearly sent tumbling head over heels. He gripped onto the edge of a computer table sauntered to the cement floor - he ducked to avoid having the life knocked out of him by the computer - and held on for dear life as the lab continued to turn – until they were completely suspended to the right, hanging off random handholds. The "floor", which was actually the west side wall, was around twenty feet below them.

He pulled himself up onto the edge of the table, balancing on the edge, feeling an awful lot like a gargoyle. Above him by roughing ten feet, Katelle was studying the distance between her and floor, as if mentally weighing her chances of survival if she let herself fall. Jason had Piper by the hand, and was keeping them both from falling as he hung off a doorknob, the door swinging unsteadily.

There was someone missing – Nico glanced around frantically. He couldn't see Harry – had he fallen?

"Oi!"

They all looked down at the same time. Harry was standing on the wall below them, holding his wand aloft. His glasses glinted against the white lights, obscuring his eyes from view, and his jet-black hair was messier than ever after tumbling some forty feet (Harry had been farther back then Nico and the others).

"Drop down!"

"Are you insane?!" Jason yelled, straining from the weight of himself and Piper.

"Who's asking?!" Harry shot back.

Despite the pickle they had gotten themselves in, Nico had to give it to Harry. They weren't ones to accuse people of being insane when they had done much stranger things in the past (or was it the future? Or were alternate, or past forms, of themselves doing crazy things right now? . . . it was going to give Nico a headache).

"I've put down a spell to soften the –"

Katelle jumped, and fell by them with a flash of blonde hair. She stopped three feet off the wall, suspended in mid-air, before dropping.

"C'mon!" said Harry. "There's your proof, now hurry it up!"

Nico, Jason, and Piper were quick to follow, stopping abruptly above the wall (which was no like a weirdly-shaped floor), before landing roughly on their feet. Nico grabbed hold of the wall in an attempt to keep from falling over as the entire lab swayed again. He was suddenly very glad that his sister, Hazel, wasn't there. She would have gotten sick from the constant movement, like how she often was while on the _Argus_ _II_.

Several tables went sliding away from them as the labs started to turn back to the way it was before – with the ceiling above them and floor actually under their feet. Everything was in chaos, and Nico spotted a few puddles of mysteriously colored liquid steaming on the ground. He noticed on splotch of gray liquid melting through a solid stainless steel leg of one of the operating tables, and watched with horrified fascination as it caught fire.

" . . . That could be problematic," Piper breathed.

"'Problematic'?!" Harry repeated incredulously. "What is with – never mind, I'm going to put out the fire –"

"Don't bother trying," said Katelle, her eyes narrowed on the fire. "It's an anti-demigod weapon – chances are, your magic will have no effect on it."

Harry tried anyway, and as Katelle predicted, he failed. If anything, the magic from his attempt seemed to fuel the flames, making them spread even faster. Crimson and orange light flickered across the room, and Nico figured now was a good time to see if he had enough energy to shadow-travel them out of the lab, before they all burned to death. It had only been a few minutes since their run from that last monster, so he wasn't sure what toll this was going to take on his energy level.

He grabbed Jason and Piper, nodding at Harry, who prepared himself to run. When he turned to Katelle, she shook her head.

"Just go," she said. "I'll get out of here on my own. Just so you know – this lab is in the middle of open space. It was a research center about five hundred years after your time. So, you won't be walking out of any doors to escape. Chaos is coming, and soon. Prepare yourselves for Draven when he comes for you."

Normally Nico would have protested leaving someone behind when the entire place was burning down, but he was fairly certain Katelle could take care of herself. And if anything she said was true, then she was some kind of super-human anyway, so she probably wouldn't have a single problem surviving on her own. In fact, he figured she was better off then the rest of them.

Harry started. "What? Draven's coming? What are you talking –"

Nico ushered the British wizard away before he could get into a roll of firing off questions, as he usually did. Harry Potter was nothing if not one to ask as many questions as possible. The dark-haired son of Hades guessed it came from years of conducting private investigations on homicidal professors and evil talking diaries. (Nico thought the wizarding world might be just slight odder than their own world – but only just).

The shadows bent and shifted around him, and the entire world blacked out for a second. It was comforting traveling by shadows – in his own domain. He didn't like the feeling of moving through the darkness that Thorne created, the iciness that clawed at his heart and always seemed to tear him apart inside. There was a massive difference between the shadows of Hades' domain, and the corrupting darkness of Thorne.

He reappeared behind the wall of flames, and they took off running. Nico banged open the door and quickly scanned the long hall for something – anything that alluded a way to put out the fire rapidly spreading behind them. And if they were actually in space, like Katelle had said (and it would be very strange to lie about something like that), then escape would be one hundred times harder than usual.

Jason groaned. "Where's Percy when you need him?"

"Percy might not be able to put out that fire," Harry said between breaths. "Katelle said – she said it was an anti-demigod weapon."

"Yeah, but still," Jason replied, "he could have done something."

"Wind?" Piper suggested hopefully.

Jason shook his head. "Too compact – I need more room, and besides. I control the air currents, and last I knew, there weren't many of those in open space."

"And we lost the anomaly devise," Harry groused.

They came to a stop once they rounded the corner of the hall, looking behind at the closed door. Bright, hot light flared behind the patch of glass on the door, giving them a small view to the inferno chasing them.

"Are you guys always being chased by these kinds of things?" Harry asked, recovering from their impromptu sprint. "I kind of gathered your lives are chaotic from last year – but this is just . . ."

"Don't worry," Jason replied. "You're not the only one completely confused."

Piper chewed her lip nervously. "There's got to be a way out of here. . . . Can you shadow travel to Earth, Nico?"

Nico shook his head. "You know I can't do that. I have to have a clear image of where I'm going, and I've never, ever, traveled so far before. I'm surprised my shadow-travel works at all, so far from the gods' domain in America."

" . . . You know, their domain might have changed since we –"

"I try not to think about that."

Harry growled, frustrated. "I don't know about you people, but I'm ready to be out of these labs. And we really need to find Tom."

Nico winced as he remembered the young could-be dark lord. Although, as he kept moving on from one bad situation to the next, he couldn't help but wonder what set Tom on that dark path. Was it their own intervention in time that made him go insane?

"You look like four people who have found themselves between the proverbial rock and hard place."

Nico growled and unsheathed his Tenebris, the Stygian Iron glinting darkly under the white laboratory lights. He turned on his heel, arching his sword in the direction of the person speaking. Nico didn't expect to actually hit him – and he didn't. Thorne slipped neatly out of the way, dissolving into darkness and reappearing a few feet to the left, a smirk twisting his lips.

The cloaked young man almost seemed to exude pride, or perhaps gloating, seeming a lot like someone who had just recently succeeded their plans, and wanted to brag. Over all, he simply _reeked_ arrogance.

"Thorne," Jason snarled, drawing his _gladius_. "What are you doing here? It doesn't have anything to do with the light show, does it?"

"Oh, the fire?" said Thorne. "You brought that on yourselves. No, I've been waiting for the right moment all this time, and believe it's just now come to pass. I just need – ah, I do believe she's coming."

Katelle nearly ran into them, and as soon as she saw Thorne, her expressions changed so swiftly that Nico couldn't hope the tell what she was feeling. A moment later, her face settled into a hastily constructed apathetic mask. Her pant leg looked a little singed, and behind her attempted poker face, her eyes were wild.

"Thorne." Her voice was flat, uncaring. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"You know why," Thorne drawled slowly, and disappeared into darkness as she threw several knives at him, held between her fingers like kunai.

"Tut tut," he murmured as he came back into existence. "You're being rather unfriendly, don't you think? Whatever happened to the little sparrow?"

Katelle's mask broke, her face harsh and set. Lines creased between her eyes, making her look older (or, Nico thought belatedly, she might have been much older than they thought). "That was a blank slate – a being who had been raised with nothing but a number. I've grown and changed."

"A creature created soulless, dies soulless," Thorne said, his voice suddenly very cold. "You have become foolish."

"You've gone _insane_," she spat. "Your fear of nothingness has driven you over the edge, and now you're going to bring the entire universe down with you!"

The part of Thorne's face that was visible twisted into a snarl. "This world wishes my obliteration – and I will go, if only I drag it down with me!"

He spun around dramatically, his arms flinging out to his sides, and laughing in a way that shattered the last bit of belief that he had a single shred of sanity. "The time has come, little sparrow! The beginning is waking up and will start the end!"

"What the _hell_ are you talking about?!" Nico shouted, completely lost. "The beginning – gods, will you just quit with the confusing phrasing?"

"The nothingness that would claim me – Draven Thorne – will simply cease to exist, once I have created the world how I see fit," said Thorne haughtily, ignoring them.

"For once in your life, _stop speaking in bloody riddles!_" Harry exploded, his face red with righteous anger. "I am _so tired_ of having to pull teeth getting you people to talk!"

Thorne chuckled. "I think he wants a demonstration, little sparrow."

Katelle gripped the remaining knives in her hands tighter. "What are you think –"

The darkness exploded around them, and Nico gave a muffled shout, clutching his chest and doubling over. The dark power Thorne used felt as putrid as ever, stifling and suffocating him. He was sure he would drown in the darkness, unable to see a single thing and completely alone. Despair resounded in the darkness around him, choking the air he struggled to breath like a contagious disease.

He stumbled forward, reaching out blindly for something – anything. Usually when he traveled through these dark portals, there was a distinct destination in mind – or at least, in Thorne's mind – unless he did the instant transportation thing he had done before. He crashed into a body, and jerked Tenebris up abruptly. Then he heard some colorful cursing in a strong English accent, and realized it was Harry. He almost skewered the wizard before he stopped himself, just in time.

As quickly as it came, the darkness fled. Nico dropped to the ground, gasping for breath. Harry clung to his shoulder, just about coughing his lungs out. Piper and Jason were hugging each other, the daughter of Aphrodite having her eyes closed tightly, before she noticed they were no longer submerged in darkness.

Nico rubbed his forehead, massaging at his headache, and climbed to his feet. He stopped, freezing in shock. He remembered this place – he had been here before, with his younger twin brothers. They had started going translucent and golden, so he wasn't about to forget it.

They stood in a wide, startlingly blank expanse. Nico and the others stood on the light side, the brightness clashing with the darkness. Two completely separate sides, seeming almost two dimensional and only barely connected by a thin line of gray. There were millions of thin, wispy strands of golden light flowing back and forth, like a slow, lazy river at sunset.

"Where are we?" Piper asked, awed.

"The world between worlds," came Thorne's voice. He stood on the dark side, his dark cloak nearly making him invisible. The bottom half of his face seemed to glow in the light shining off the side that Nico, Jason, Piper, and Harry stood on. In front of them was Katelle, literally toeing the line between darkness and light. "The place of nothingness. Between death and life – a limbo, if you will."

"I've been here before," Nico said.

"Too right you have," said Thorne. "I sent you and your brothers here – I felt like giving them a little glimpse of their future."

"They were going translucent," Nico said quietly. " . . . Why?"

"It is their fate to fade away," Thorne replied, smirking as if he knew a terrible secret. "How about I tell you something the gods didn't want you to know?" Without waiting for Nico's response, he went on. "With every correction your brothers made to the "time line", they were erasing their own existence."

"What?!" The demigods and wizards gasped collectively.

"Thorne," Katelle snapped warningly.

"You see, the two of them were never meant to really be _born _–"

"_Thorne_, don't you dare –!"

Thorne laughed mockingly. "What, have you bowed to the gods and thrown your lots with them? Will you serve the dogs who loathe you, and doomed you from the start?"

She let out a furious shout and flung several more knives at him – which he smoothly dodged. "The gods had nothing to do with our creation! We were created outside the realm of gods – we don't belong to any realm, world – universe! We're outside it all!"

"_Exactly_!" Thorne howled, tearing at his hood as if it pained him. "WE WERE DOOMED THE DAY WE WERE BORN!"

"_WE WEREN'T BORN!_" she screamed back at him. "Get over yourself, Draven! You're ridiculous! You don't even hear what I'm saying! You're blinded by fear and hate –"

"_Shut up_," he hissed, and something about his tone snapped her mouth closed. She watched him with a new kind of wariness.

Nico tightened his grip on Tenebris, sending a silent message to Jason, Piper, and Harry. _Ready yourself_, his face said.

He could sense a fight on the near horizon.

* * *

**A/N: That seemed very chaotic to me. I hope you guys all liked it! I love reviews - they help me know where I'm going wrong and where to improve, so if anyone has any constructive criticism, tell me! Also, if there are any spelling errors or the like, tell me, because I've been trying to proofread more now. **

**The next chapter will hopefully be out in a few days! There's only a few chapters left in this story, so I'm trying to make them extra good :D**

**Ja ne! **


	24. Chapter 24

AN: If there are any grammar or spelling errors, I apologize in advance - I wanted to get this out as soon as possible, so enjoy! Oh, and sorry for the chapter name... I'm feeling less then creative today. XD

* * *

Chapter Twenty Four

The Cameo of Scrat

"'_Born of this world, new upon my wind that I breathe into you. From my shores you are born, and unto new seas I send you. The bringer of life, death, and time will rest in her realm of perfect balance.'_ This world has no name . . . but it is told in countless tales."

A small girl sat on a branch of a tree, hundreds of feet above the ground. She was facing the horizon, where the dark sky met the ground. The silvery moon was drifting down, and she knew that the night would soon be over.

"I would say, it's the time right before dawn that takes the longest to go by," she murmured to no one. "I have no name, yet I was called by one. "Mara" she named me."

She held a devise to her face, speaking into it. "I am the recorder. I will travel from every age and world and record all things. Everyone will be remembered, even if for only a second. The recorded time is about to be rendered null, though. . . . I'll have to start over."

The Recorder – that was her true name. She was no 'Mara', or 'Sparrow', or anything. She enjoyed her allotment in fate, as the one who would record all history.

"The real question is," she mused quietly, "who is going to die? Or more accurately: who will be cursed with living?"

"Two children of the gods . . . the son of strategy and daughter of wealth . . . their fates in this time has come to an end. They will not fill out their destiny, but perhaps it is for the best. As the recorder, it's hard for me to remember all these names."

Of course, that wasn't the truth. She could remember each and every name, face, and voice of every human being to have ever lived. That was why she was the Recorder.

She closed her eyes, seeing something deep inside her that no other creature in the known universe would understand. When she opened them, her eyes looked as old as time herself.

"The end has begun."

* * *

One minute, Percy was heading for class (reluctantly, but there was literally nothing else he could do, being stuck in the nineteen-thirties, while everyone else was gods-only-know when), the next he and Annabeth were swarmed by a cloud of darkness in the middle of hall – he was aware of several random students shrieking in surprised, and figured they had just caused an inter-time-dimensional incident. Suddenly, Percy found himself in a world that looked like a bad Oreo Cookies advertisement.

He recognized the cloaked figure of Draven Thorne, and there was Katelle Sparrow, staring at the hooded young man in defiance, which was nothing new. And behind them was –

"NICO!" he shouted. "Hey, man! What's up?"

The son of Hades turned to him, dark eyes wide with disbelief. " . . . You appear out of no where, probably after being transported with no warning, into a place you don't recognize, and the first think you ask is _what's up_? What is _wrong_ with you? I can't believe I actually –" he broke off and shook his head. "Honestly."

Percy scratched his head, laughing sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm not surprised by anything anymore."

"No kidding," Harry muttered from Nico's right.

"You've all come here," said Thorne joyfully, "to witness the greatest moment in time."

Katelle scowled. "Time is such a fickle word, Draven. You have to stop, before you do something that can't be fixed."

"Fix, _fix_, FIX!" Thorne roared. "I AM TIRED OF FIXING! I'll do the opposite for once – what I was born for! Opposition!"

Percy grabbed Riptide in his pocket, finger poised over the cap, ready to flick it off. He kept sea-green eyes on the raving madman. He sensed the battle would be coming any moment now – the tensity in the air was reaching the tipping point he was so accustomed to after years and years of fighting against monsters. He was fairly sure he was going to start having to keep a list of how many idiots who had tried to destroy the world as they knew it.

"This isn't the time for rebellion," Katelle said. She seemed to have the delusion she could actually reason with Thorne. "There's some things that can't be fought, Draven. We were created outside time – that's our place. We don't _belong _here!"

"How could you be so happy in such a place?" sneered Thorne angrily. "So simpleminded!"

"Simpleminded though I may be," she said, "I find joy out of being with my family. Draven – they're out there, somewhere – Ace, and Arianne – and Allan will wake up soon, I know he will –"

"Unlike you, I am chaos," said Thorne coldly. "I cannot find pleasure in simplicity – I need more. Without more, we're doomed to nothing!"

Percy watched and waited. He knew there was always a right moment in a fight – he just had to wait for it to open up. Then again, he had never been the best at waiting. It was Annabeth's job to come up with a strategic plan. He wished Frank was here – he could whip up an awesome battle strategy that would kick the homicidal maniac's cloaked behind to the "nothingness" he so feared in no time.

"Wait, Percy," Annabeth murmured, her stormy gray eyes churning even more than usual. "He's ready for an attack. He's not acting like it, but if we attack now, I don't think we stand a chance."

"All six of us against him? And maybe seven, with Katelle," Percy added. "You don't think we'd be enough?"  
"There's something not right with him," Nico said quietly. "He's got a power that none of us understand. I think just one of him is enough to take us all without breaking a sweat."

" . . . Harry, can't you just zap him to death with magic?"

Harry turned bemused green eyes on him. "_No_, I definitely cannot! That's the Killing Curse, and it's _illegal_!"

Percy shrugged. "So? I set the St. Louis Arch on fire once."

"That is besides the poi – wait, you did what?"

"I think our guests are getting bored," Thorne said, laughing again, as if he had said the funniest thing ever, since the time of cleaning man-eating horses' stables.

Percy uncapped Riptide as Thorne turned his attention on them. He wasn't going to be caught off guard. However, instead of attacking like Percy expected him to, the cloaked young man turned and wandered off down the stream of golden wisps. The son of Poseidon blinked owlishly, having thoroughly expected to be engaged in a sword fight by now.

"Well? Are you going to follow?" asked Thorne. "Or will your wallow in your unknowing, and forever wonder what would have happened if you had only followed?"

Percy rolled his eyes – the man was such a drama queen. The demigods and wizard shared a look, and reluctantly set off after Thorne. Behind them, Katelle slowly moved off the gray line, seeming to supply herself with new knives out of no where. Every single one of the teens were tense, ready to spring into action at the slightest hostile movement. He supposed it should have been no surprise they all reacted so strongly when it came.

They had been trailing after Thorne for about a minute, and then they heard it – the high, shrill shrieking – a blur of gray fur, and something latched itself onto Percy's face.

He shouted tearing at it, and stumbled around wildly until Annabeth came to his rescue. She swiftly ripped the small creature off his face, tiny claws digging into his cheeks and leaving thin scratches (he figured he looked like a discount Naruto Uzumaki now) on his face. He knew the band-aid route was supposed to be the best, but he really wished she didn't rip the thing off like that.

"What, were you trying to tear my face off?" Percy moaned.

"Don't be a baby, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, smiling a little.

He pouted at her over his hand, clutching the tiny scratches. "So mean."

The little creature – which looked like a strange cross between a rat and squirrel – was chasing an acorn. It dove for the small brown nut, and hopped on it – except the only thing he succeeded in doing was sending the acorn flying through air at Katelle, who swiftly cut it in two.

The squirrel-rat thing twitched when it saw the two halves of the acorn, and then grabbed its ears, screaming at the ceiling, its bugging eyes bulging even more.

It darted off, leaving them in baffled silence.

" . . . The hell was that?!" Katelle snarled, annoyed.

Thorne's mouth was turned down in confusion. " . . . Well, I can honestly say that wasn't part of my plan."

"I'd hope not," Harry grumbled.

"On the bright side, we're here!" Thorne said, waving his arms in a flourishing motion at a wide, silvery lake that appeared before them.

Percy rubbed his eyes. He was sure that hadn't been there a second before. The surface was glassy, as if it was iced over. There was a pulsating power emanating from the lake that rose the hairs on his neck. He swallowed, feeling more nervous than he had in years. Something about that lake – it was ancient, primordial – no, it was even older then primordial. It chilled him down even farther then simply his bones – it was like his very DNA was curling in on itself.

The feeling was different then that of when Apophis attacked, their DNA unraveling and falling apart. This was entirely alien to him. It was as if the lake was urging him to slip into a deep sleep – to flow away with the golden stream and fade away. The presence wasn't wishing him death – only an everlasting sleep. (Although, he really argued that they were basically the same).

"This is the beginning of All," said Thorne. "All rests here."

"When you say 'All'," said Katelle in a very small voice, "you don't mean . . .?"

Thorne laughed softly. "Exactly, little sparrow."

"No – no – oh, gods, Draven _what the hell are you thinking?!_" she whisper-screamed, as if she was afraid of waking something. "You – you can't – let's all back away very slowly . . . _Don't you dare!_"

Thorne had neared the lake, kneeling. His long, slim fingers skimmed just above the surface of the water.

"What is it?!" Annabeth asked, alarmed. Her gray eyes were wide. "What's this feeling?!"

"You feel it, too?" Harry asked.

Percy started in surprise. "So, you all feel it? Harry, you too? So it's not a demigod thing . . ."

Nico shuddered. "It's like something's trying to put me to sleep."

"Yeah," Jason said. "It feels a bit like Piper's charmspeak, only . . . deeper."

Piper shrugged. "I don't really feel anything . . . maybe a little."

"Your charmspeaking ability probably makes you immune to a certain degree," Annabeth theorized out loud.

"This is the resting place of . . . of _Chaos_," Katelle said, her voice strained.

Percy froze. "When you say Chaos . . . you don't mean –?"

"Yes," she said, turning to them. Percy was unnerved to see the amount of fear in her eyes. "I mean the creator of _all things._ Chaos – the beginning."

His mouth went dry, and he understand why she wanted to leave immediately. Suddenly going to sleep and flowing with the floating yellow garland-stuff didn't seem so bad. He had fought many being in the past – gods, Titans, even Primordial. He fought Kronos himself, and helped topple Gaea, who was literally Mother Earth. Somehow, he knew this was a power of a whole new level. This wasn't the earth, or the most powerful child of the earth. This was the creator _everything_.

"Right. So." Percy gave a little laugh. "Should I stop to ask Chaos why it created something like the platypus?"

"Did you seriously go there?"

"_Seaweed Brain_," Annabeth groaned. "_Really_ not the time."

Meanwhile, Thorne hadn't budged from the lake side. His hand was still hovering over the glassy surface, as if tempted to touch it. Percy didn't even want to think about what would happen if Thorne did something like that – would Chaos wake in a rage and destroy them all, tearing them apart by the smallest fabrics of what made them living beings?

"All of this power," Thorne crooned softly. "All to be _mine_."

"What?" Piper asked.

"What are you going to do? Harness Chaos?" Katelle snorted, somehow managing to sound sarcastic, despite being deathly pale nearly trembling.

Jason coughed. "Hey, don't you guys think we should be running?"

"Tactical retreat," Harry advised.

"Yeah," Nico agreed. "Let's let Thorne get torn up by the creator of the known universe and pretend we don't know what's going on."

" . . . Don't you think Chaos will already know? I mean, it created –" everyone shushed Annabeth.

"_'__Born of this world, new upon my wind that I breathe into you. From my shores you are born, and unto new seas I send you. The bringer of life, death, and time will rest in her realm of perfect balance.__'"_ Thorne said, as if quoting an ancient epic. "The words of the Recorder herself."

"The Recorder?" Percy repeated questioningly.

"You know her better as Mara Sparrow – Katelle's "sister"." Thorne made a sound of amusement. "They're not actually related – none of us are."  
"We're_ family_," Katelle snapped.

"You abandoned your family the moment you agreed to help these people," Thorne scoffed. "You've thrown your lot in with them, and now you will reap the consequences of your actions."

" . . . Isn't it reap the benefits?" Harry muttered.

"Don't bother," Jason said. "These kinds of people just like using sayings how they want to."

"Ah. Right."

"We understand."

Katelle was still glaring Thorne down, but she kept throwing nervous glances at the lake. "Draven, we _cannot_ be here. I don't think I can stress that enough. We need to leave – like, _now_. The power of Chaos – it's insane. We couldn't hope to –"

"_You_ couldn't hope to," Thorne interrupted. "You see, you've always been the perfect puppet, Katelle. From the very beginning, you just laid there and did whatever people told you to do. If they told you to fight – you fought. If they told you to sit still and let them dissect you – you did so. If they told you to slaughter without mercy –"

"That's unfair," she started, but was cut off again.

"'Unfair', I never thought I'd see the day when "Katelle Sparrow" said something was 'unfair'. What a joke you've turned out to be, dear Katelle." His voice dripped in sarcasm and cruelty. He motioned to the lake again, as if showing off his masterpiece. "All this power, untapped. Chaos is fading _thing_ that isn't even conscious of the world it created anymore! All you have to do is reach out and –"

He dipped his hand in the water – Percy's stomach clenched. He expected something to happen, and great beast to lunge from the lake, for the sleepy lull to strengthen and drag them all under.

Nothing happened.

Thorne lifted his hand, water dripping from his long, pale fingers. He was smirking, as if he enjoyed their frightened expressions. "You see? Nothing. I have stolen power from the mighty Chaos itself, and not a single thing has stopped me. The world is in my hands!"

"If you're so unstoppable," Annabeth said, her eyes narrowed, "then why bring all of us here? Why play this game, sending us to different eras and separating us. What was the use? I can't believe it was just a game, that you felt like playing with us."

"You're quite right, I suppose that's to be expected from a daughter of Athena," said Thorne. "The children of the wisdom goddess – you've always had such bright, inquisitive minds."

"Answer the question," Percy demanded, not liking the attention the psychopath was giving his girlfriend.

"Those so-called 'Anomalies' you've all been massing through?" said Thorne. "They're all pieces of Chaos's power, broken off from the main source, spread over the world. Chaos observes all at once – the past, present, and future. It's rather like an unending dream to Chaos – it cares little about what actually happening, of course, but every time a human being passing through one of these anomalies, or even my dark portals, being aspects of Chaos, something changes in your bodies."  
Percy's skin crawled. He remembered when Frank used to talk about how his skin didn't feel right on his body, how he never felt he quite fit in his own skin. At this moment, Percy figured he understood the best he ever would in his life, what Frank was talking about. It was as if his own body was alien to him, tampered with.

"What the bloody hell are you saying?" Harry snapped, breaking their shocked silence. "'Changed' – what change?"

"Down to the subatomic level, you've been changed. Your bodies are different – _you_ are different, changed by the power of Chaos. You see, a normal human being couldn't stand before Chaos like this. They would be overwhelmed, pulled into the current. You have something different, though – Chaos's power rests within you, implanted in your core every time you passed through an 'anomaly' or one of my dark portals."

"We . . . have Chaos's power?" echoed Piper, bewildered. She looked mightily disturbed.

"Not to the extent of someone like me," Thorne stated.

Annabeth growled, annoyed. "That still doesn't answer my question! Why go through all of this when it was clearly quite easy for you to stroll in here and take what power you wanted?"

"Hm, I suppose I at least owe you an explanation before I kill you," Throne replied in a lazy drawl.

"I'd like to see you try," Percy muttered.

If Thorne heard him, he didn't react. "The truth is, I can't take all of this power for my own right now. My simple, near-human body can't take it. As powerful as those scientists made me, I'm not strong enough for the vast power of Chaos itself. However, were I imbued with the strength of many powerful demigods and wizards . . . well, wizard as it seems Tom Riddle has evaded my grasp," a frown briefly flickered across his mouth, before he moved on, "I would be made strong enough to survive the transfer of Chaos's power to me."

Percy opened his mouth, then closed it. Then he opened it again. " . . . Eh, could you run that by me again? . . . You sort of lost me."

Annabeth sighed, but her face had gone a little pale. "He's going to absorb us, Percy. . . . Force us inside of him, somehow."

Nico cringed. "Look, Annabeth, I'm not criticizing your choice of words, but . . ."

"Yeah, that came out way wrong," Annabeth grumbled.

Piper looked very disgruntled. "It wasn't awkward until you made it that way, Death Boy."

"No, I'm pretty sure we were all disturbed beforehand," said Percy. "It just kind of went over your head."

Percy knew that if Leo was there with them, he would have patted Piper's head and said something like, "Poor innocent Beauty Queen." . . . Then again, he would have had the lights knocked out of him by Piper if he did, so it was probably better that Leo wasn't there to say that.

"Well, that's that," Thorne said, suddenly turning to face them. Darkness spread around him, and filled his hands like soupy fog. "I've given you my explanation – now I'm afraid I'm going to kill you."

* * *

AN: THANK YOU for the reviews! I love hearing from you guys! I hope this chapter (despite the many errors I'm sure I missed) was enjoyable and at least somewhat worth the wait. There's only a few chapters left now... If you've got any questions or if there's anything I haven't addressed (because my memory's been terrible lately XD) review, and I'll cover them.


	25. Chapter 25

-25-

Despair at the World's Edge

"I'm afraid I'm going to kill you now."

Percy found out immediately that when Thorne meant he was going to kill them now, he meant_ now_. He was forced to dodge a whirling ball of dark matter, zipping by his face and searing cold. It wasn't the type of attack that would cause gaping wounds, or burn their skin off. Percy was more worried about being freeze dried like beef jerky before being sliced and diced. He wasn't even sure if Thorne had a weapon on him, besides for his darkness.

He felt his movements slowing down as the effects of the lake and the golden wisps dragged him down. They were still tugging at his subconscious, urging him to lay down and sleep, to let the sluggish and gentle current take him. His eyelids felt heavy and scratchy, as if he had just gone three all-nighters and missed he last dose of caffeine.

The worst thing was, he wasn't even sure he could fight it off for very long. It was like a soothing lullaby, the sound of his mother's voice when he was child, sending him into a dream-like state. Fighting against the power of Chaos, even while the primordial was sleeping, was like an ant trying to battle a dragon.

One might even say it's an impossible battle.

Percy had never felt so weak. His arms were heavy, his feet struggling to move. He attempts to avoid Thorne's hits were pathetic at best. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so helpless, so useless against the face of a stronger enemy.

The longer he thought on it, the more impossible it seemed. It was as if a lead weight had settled in his chest, smothering his lungs and straining his breathing. This wasn't a battle he could win. He would fail. Everyone he cared about would die because he wasn't strong enough to protect them, to defeat his enemy. They were all about to die.

Pain exploded in his shoulder, and for a second he thought he had been hit by Thorne. However, when he looked down at the injury, he saw a slim silver knife embedded in his muscle. A thin line of blood collected around the weapon, most of the blood flow blocked as the knife acted as a cork.

He looked up in surprise at Katelle, her arm still held out after she threw the knife.

"Snap out of it!" she yelled. "It's Thorne - he hasn't mastered Chaos's power yet, but he can still mess with your head. Just stop thinking and kill him!"

Percy drew back, a little shocked. Kill him.

He had never killed a human being before.

And just like that, the hesitation left. He had never had to kill a human being before, but as he thought on it, it really didn't matter. Thorne could hardly be counted as human. He was threatening his friends and family, his girlfriend – everything that mattered most to him. He was trying to destroy Percy's world.

In the end, it didn't matter if Thorne was human or not. He was going down.

Percy's grip tightened on Riptide. There was no water in this precipice world, barring the eerie lake which Chaos slumbered in. However, water or no water, Thorne was going down.

~o0o~

Nico barely managed to keep from having half his face blasted off by one of Thorne's attacks. He had been worried about Percy's behavoir, his slow and painstaking movements. For a second, he was certain that the son of Poseidon's lackluster performance was going to get him killed. He had been a split-second from jumping in a giving Percy and good shake.

Then Katelle saw fit to impale him with her gods-damned knife. Her way of "helping" had worked, but that didn't stop Nico's eye from twitching. He had always known she was going to stab one of them at least once. (Even if it was to save Percy's life).

He kept close to Harry, as out of all of them there, he had the least experience in a straight-out battle like this. It was true he had fought other wizards before, and he had done very well defending himself, but even so, Nico didn't want to risk the Boy-Who-Lived getting frozen to death. Somehow he didn't think Dumbledore and Sirius would thank him for that.

Tenebris seemed to hum for a second, responding to the call of Chaos.

Nico eyed his weapon, feeling dread rising. There was one thing that had really been bothering him since Chaos came into the mix. If the primordial could create all things, it would make sense if it could also destroy them. He knew Thorne didn't have a full grasp on his newfound powers and

he was afraid of what would happen if they didn't subdue him in time.

Just thinking about what Thorne could do with the power of Chaos was disturbing. The ability to create and destroy all things, to rewrite the very laws of the universe and order of the world. Such a power should never belong to anything but Chaos itself. It was especially bad since Thorne seemed to have a few screws loose upstairs.

"How do we take him down?" Piper asked.

Jason scowled. "I don't suppose you can charmspeak him down?"

She shook her head. "My charmspeak doesn't work on him."

"We have to end him before he figures out the extent of his power," said Katelle as she joined them. She was ashen, her forehead beaded with sweat. The side of her jacket was seared off, revealing burned and mottled skin. She had been hit. "Just one of those things he's lobbing drain your energy to near depletion. Don't let yourself get hit."

"I didn't plan on it," Nico muttered.

That was when Thorne launched himself into the sky, a half-circle of black matter swirling to life

around him twelve spheres. He flung his arm out, as if he was commanding an army to charge, and the spheres catapulted towards them at all angles.

Nico let out a sharp curse and grabbed Harry and Katelle, while Jason and Piper nimbly leaped out of the way. Harry wasn't used to dodging these kinds of attacks and Katelle was injured. The shadows angled around him and he stepped into them, dragging Katelle and Harry with them.

He emerged outside the blast radius, cringing as the lake rippled from the shock wave. He didn't want whatever was sleeping under those depths to wake up. It would be just their rotten luck that they would have to fight Chaos, the primordial that created everything. He didn't even know if it was possible to battle Chaos.

He deflected a ball of dark matter with Tenebris, sending it crashing to the ground. Every impact of the energy made the lake's water stir. If Chaos really was sleeping down there, it was about to get a nasty wake up call.

Nico just wished he wasn't part of the wake-up parade.

Jason knew this was a losing battle.

The moment Thorne started levitating, Jason just knew they were up the creek without a paddle.

With every advancement the cloaked man made, it meant he was gaining more control over his power. To top it off, the lull of sleep was still there in the back of his mind, like a subtler version of charmspeak. It was like a slow hypnosis.

He was just glad Piper could hold her own with only her Katoptris. Every time a volley of attacks was sent their way, they were forced to dodge and then regroup, desperately formulating a plan to launch a counter attack of their own. If they wanted any chance of defeating this guy in a timely fashion (which was important), they were going to have to land a hit.

Landing a hit was the issue. It was incredibly difficult to get anywhere near him, let alone actually strike a decisive blow.

He gritted his teeth, blocking another blow from the dark matter orbs. His feet slid back from the force and he had to duck and roll to avoid the oncoming explosion. Even so, he felt the intense cold sear at his back, like the opposite of a hot poker.

Jason landed on his feet, a couple yards away from Piper. There was a thin trail of blood trickling down her forehead. She had been nicked at some point, just like him. Even Nico was sporting a slight limp in his right leg. The only ones who were generally unscathed were Percy and Annabeth. Katelle looked one hit away from dropping.

The cold hard fact was that they were being driven back. The most all of them could do was dodge and hope they didn't get hit. It stung Jason's pride. He was the son of Jupiter, the king of the gods. Percy was the son of Poseidon, and Nico the son of Hades. Children from all of the Big Three were joined together in combat, and the best they could do was dodge. They also had Aphrodite's most powerful child, Piper, and magic on their side in the form of Harry Potter.

This couldn't be the best they could do. What happened to the strength he felt while fighting Gaea?

Katelle seemed to materialize next to him, a trait she had never kicked, it seemed.

"I can tell what you're thinking," she said.

"So you're a telepath now?" he asked in a pathetic attempt to sound upbeat.

She frowned. "He's got an advantage over us, with Chaos on his side. Plus, we're literally inside Chaos's territory. It's like . . . like . . ."

"Battling Jupiter in the sky," Jason finished for her. "Or Neptune in the ocean. I get it. That doesn't make it any easier."

"You forgot the add Hades in there," Nico said, having appeared via shadow-travel.

Jason snorted. "Hades is difficult to fight anywhere."

"I'll take that as a compliment," said the dark-haired demigod, right before disappearing again.

A few dodges and missed hits later, Jason scowled and shifted his grip on his gladius. Attacking like this was getting them no where. The more he studied Thorne's movements, the more he realized the man had literally no plan of action in mind. He was going off a whim, attacking when he pleased with no strategy of any sorts.

They could use this to their advantage.

"We're going to have to outsmart him," Jason stated firmly.

He had appeared by Annabeth and Percy, transported after asking Nico to shadow-travel. Harry was flanking his left while Piper was at his right side. Despite his arguments that she was injured,

Katelle had volunteered to keep Thorne distracted while they coordinated. So far, she seemed to be doing a fairly decent job. She hadn't been blown up yet, at the very least.

Annabeth nodded, "I was thinking that myself. He's mostly a long-range attacker. I can't think of a single time Thorne's ever out right attacked us close-range."

"So he's most vulnerable with up-close attacks?" said Harry.

The daughter of Athena hummed her agreement.

"How do we get close, though?" asked Percy. "I don't know about you, but that dude is throwing

those things like popcorn on movie night. . . . Just an endless bag of popcorn."

"Popcorn?" Harry echoed.

"Where do you come up with these things?" Nico grumbled.

The ground rattled as Thorne launched another attack, bringing them back to the problem at

hand.

"We're going to have to attack all at once," Jason surmised, "as a distraction."

"All long-range attacks," Annabeth concluded. "That way, he'll be too worried about blocking them

mid-air. Meanwhile, someone nimble will have to slip around all of that and land a good hit."

"I can do it," Piper said.

Jason felt a tinge of alarm.

"You sure?"

She nodded, "Leave it to me."

Annabeth chewed her bottom lip worriedly. "I was think I'd do it -"

"Trust me, I can do this," Piper insisted.

Percy let out a curse in ancient Greek. "We've gotta make up our minds soon. Katelle can't handle this much longer."

The blond girl was started to move sluggishly, the strain on her body catching up to her. She narrowly missed on attack – and Jason's heart nearly leaped out of his throat when she took a straight-on hit to her chest.

"Damn it!"

Jason didn't know who cursed, as they all charged at once. He hadn't known Katelle long, and he had been around her even less. Honestly, she had struck him as mentally unstable. After learning about her past, the extent of her mental instability had really struck home. No normal nine year old could just take up a scalpel and slaughter over two hundred people in one night, even if those people had caused her a lot of pain.

Despite this, Katelle Sparrow was their friend. The demigods of Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter didn't let a friend die.

"I don't know if this will work," he muttered, lifting his golden-bladed gladius skyward.

He reached, feeling for that tug in his gut that always accompanied and very loud –

CRACK!

A flash of electricity almost blinded him, striking home. Thorne fell out of the air, the spheres of dark matter imploding. His body was covered with flickering sparks.

" . . . It worked?!"

"Hurry, before he gets up!" Katelle shouted, before dissolving into a coughing fit.

Piper hurried to her side, pulling out a bag – which was empty. She cursed softly.

"We're out of ambrosia and nectar."

Katelle closed her eyes, face strained to hold her nonchalant expression.

"Don't worry," she said. "I'll start regenerating soon. Freaky lab rat, remember?"

Reassured, Jason and Percy edged closer to where Thorne laid, utterly still. The blond demigod could hardly believed that his attack actually worked. Apparently Thorne hadn't counted on their powers being affecting in Chaos's precipice world. Even Jason himself wasn't entirely sure how he had managed to pull that off.

"We're in Chaos," Annabeth surmised. "I guess it shouldn't be too surprising. . . . While Chaos as plenty of destructive power, its also the creator of everything. You probably formed that bolt from your will, using Chaos's energy.

"Remember? Thorne said pieces of Chaos were woven into us after passing through many

Anomaly gates to different times. It makes sense we can use that power ourselves."

Percy grinned crookedly. "There's the Wise Girl."

"But is he finished?" Nico asked grimly.

They slowly approached Thorne's body, edging around him. None of them were too keen to go right up and check his pulse. Jason was hit by the sudden urge to take off Thorne's hood. They had never seen his entire face, only his smirking or sneering lips. Maybe the top of his face was horrifically scarred from his time spent in a laboratory with Katelle.

"Well, I doubt his pulse is poisonous," Annabeth said.

Nobody moved.

Harry sighed. "I'll do it."

"No – wait!"

The seemingly fearless Gryffindor ambled forward, kneeling by Thorne's side. He pulled back instantly, rejoining them.

"He's alive. There's a pulse."

The moment become very awkward.

"So . . . do we kill him?"

Percy hesitated. "He is human . . . sort of."

"Percy, I don't think locking him up in prison's going to cut it."

"Never worked for Batman."

Jason never got to glare at who said that comment, because at that moment, the person they previously thought was unconscious started laughing.

"Just . . . kidding," Thorne said.

Jason barely had time to widen his eyes before six spheres of dark matter slammed into him.

~o0o~

"JASON!" Piper shrieked.

Percy snarled, lunging with Riptide held aloft, his target directly beneath him. He barely had enough time to swing to the side, darkness streaming by his left ear. The side of his head felt as though he had been laying on ice for an hour. On top of that, he couldn't hear a single thing from his injured ear.

A stream of red fired by him, launched from Harry. The wizard looked furious.

Nico grabbed Percy and Harry, shadow-traveling them out of the danger zone. On the other side of the lake, Piper was waiting. She was tending to Jason, who was unconscious with severe frost bite, his stomach and chest black and blue. His skin was flaking away. The injury looked gruesome and Percy didn't want to think of what would happen if he didn't get serious medical attention soon.

"We have to get out of here," Piper said, keeping her cool despite the turmoil she was going through. "We have nothing to bandage this, no ambrosia or nectar."

Annabeth was white-faced. "I have no idea how we can escape, though. We can't shadow-travel out of here."

"I've already tried," Nico said grimly. "It's like I'm running into a wall. We'll have to use one of those portals to get out of here."

Harry clenched his hands in fists. "Tom can use dark power . . . but he's not here right now."

"He was probably excluded from this party for that reason," said Annabeth. "Thorne is playing with us now. He doesn't think we've got a chance of winning."

No one said a word, but they could all tell what the others were thinking: Thorne was probably right.

"How do we escape?" Harry asked.

Again, no one said anything.

Nico pinched the bridge of his nose. "You guys come up with something. I'm going to distract Thorne."

He disappeared into the shadows. A second later, explosions started sending ripples down the Chaos's lake again.

There seemed to be a void where he stood before. Percy didn't know what to say, or think. He didn't know how to get out of this situation. When it came down to it, they were looking for a way to defeat a primordial.

Katelle stirred, opening her eyes. "I have an idea."

"We're all dead," snarked Percy.

She snorted. "Just shut up and listen. It's a good idea."

The resounding silence spoke volumes.

"So little faith," she grumbled.

Katelle struggled to sit up, ignoring Piper's attempts to stop her. She stood, swaying slightly in her weakened state. She was paler than ever, her eyes glazed over in pain. In her condition, it was a wonder she could stand, let alone actually think up a coherent plan to escape. She closed her eyes, as if drawing in her strength.

"His ultimate goal is to absorb all of us," she said. When she opened her eyes, they were clearer than before. "I'm going to let him absorb me."

The resulting response was explosive. Everyone started yelling at the same time.

"WHAT?"

"You can't possibly mean –"

"She's finally lost it!"

"No way!"

"Do you seriously think we'd just let you –"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Katelle shouted. She looked very annoyed.

Percy would have thought she'd look more worried, considering she was gambling her own life. Instead, she just looked mildly irritated at their strong opposition to her "genius" plan. Maybe she had finally cracked somewhere in her mind.

"Look, if you're that worried," she said, her voice softening, "then just promise me you'll beat the crap out of him and separate us."

"Is it even possible to do that?" Annabeth asked, her stormy eyes unreadable.

Katelle brushed a lock of hair out of her face. "We're not like you humans. Thorne and I were created outside of time. As long as my mind can overwhelm his, I can open a portal to get you guys out of here."

"Then what?" Percy asked, glancing around. The others couldn't seriously be considering this.

"Thorne will have free reign with Chaos's power. We'll be right back to square one!"

"No," Katelle said. "There are pieces of Chaos's power scattered in ADAM's laboratories around in different timelines. Find those and figure out how to use them, and you'll be even with Thorne. Just don't take too much time."

"How are we suppose to find –"

"Allan knows all the answers," she said. She adverted her eyes. "Just . . . have faith in him. He can do it."

Annabeth hesitated. "Isn't he . . .?"

"Yeah, he's a clone," Katelle said. "He doesn't have Allan Saures's memories, but I know he can lead you to the pieces of Chaos. I know he can."

"Are we actually going through with this?" Harry asked, aghast. "We can't just abandon Katelle!"

"There's no choice," Katelle declared. "It's not the end for me. Like I said, I'm different. Just make sure you defeat Thorne."

"How are you going to even . . . get absorbed?" Perch asked reluctantly. "Thorne's going to know something's up."

"Leave it to me," she said. "Just get me close to him."

Percy scowled, his mind grasping at straws for anything other than this plan. The annoying thing was that it made sense. Katelle really wasn't a normal human being and she most likely could survive this. It didn't change the fact that he felt like he was throwing a comrade under the bus.

Every part of his being was staunchly against this plan, even as the others nodded.

A hand suddenly gripped his own. He looked and found Annabeth standing by him.

"Trust in her," Annabeth said. "She can do this."

" . . . I just don't want her to disappear, like Leo," said Percy.

That was still a sore subject, even after the son of Hephaestus had returned. His brilliant comeback hadn't erased the pain of the time he hadn't been there – the time they had believed him dead.

"She'll come back," Annabeth stated. She released Percy's hand, drawing her dagger. "Ready?"

"One last attack," Piper said quietly.

"We only need to stall him a second," Katelle said. "Just long enough for me to get close."

Percy shoved his rebellious thoughts toward the Plan away.

"Leave it to us."

* * *

**AN: Yo! And...here's another chapter! It's been a long time in the making, but it's finally out! However, I've finally got the final chapters and last arc of the plot out lined, so here's to hoping it's smooth sailing from here.**

**I just jinxed myself. XD**

**Ja ne!**


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